Legends of the Past
by tokara2132
Summary: He as always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical importance, or can he forge his own: A legend all his own? Part Seven.
1. The Beginning

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** The Beginning

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter One: The Beginning**

Legends come and legends go. That's what my father told me on many occasions before in my life. He told me that when he started, he wanted to be Hokage because everyone would respect him. So that everyone would look up to him in spite of all the problems and all the issues he had. After all, he was the savior of the village. His own father, the Yondaime Hokage, had to make a decision that would haunt his only son for the rest of his life. But, my father, the Clone Master of Konoha, didn't hold it against my grandfather. After all, it was from the powers of the Kyuubi inside my father that gives him much of his power and stamina.

My father, Uzumaki Naruto, was a legend now, and for the past three years was the Shichidaime Hokage of Konohagakure. He told me although it was his childish dream that had him pursue the office of Hokage, he had matured and treated the office as the Hokage before him had. He may not have had the intelligence of the Sandaime or Rokudaime Hokage, or the vast skills of the Godaime or Yondaime Hokage. He did, however, have something that all of the previous Hokage had: the willingness to die for their village. The willingness to fight for everything they believed in, all that they loved. That included me, my sister, and my mother.

It's kind of funny. From all that I have heard of my father and my mother from their days back in the academy, I'm more like my mother.

I'm reminded of this even now, as I look in the mirror as I face the very things my mother and father did. My spiky hair is a deep blue color, mixing the traits of both my mother and father. My eyes are an extremely light blue, again a mix of my parents' traits. I have a heavy build like my father and a surprising amount of grace, like my mother. Named for my adopted great-grandfather, I am someone who has to juggle not one but two famous lineages I have to live with.

I am Uzumaki Satoshi, son of Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Hinata, grandson of the Yondaime Hokage and heir to the Uzumaki clan. I am the only person outside of the Hyuuga clan to use the Byakugan, the youngest person in a generation to be able to use and produce the powerful and advanced Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu, and skilled fighter in both traditional taijutsu and the Jyuuken fighting style of my mothers' family.

After all, I guess it's appropriate, seeing as I am related to the largest and most powerful clan in Konoha that developed that style of taijutsu. That's why my eyes are a milky blue. The mixing of my mothers Byakugan eyes with my fathers extremely bright blue eyes left me with those eyes, as well as the Byakugan itself. Granted its not as all seeing as the original of my mothers' clan, it's still strong and useful.

Maybe that's one of the reasons why the teachers at my school call me a prodigy. Despite my lack of ties with the Hyuuga clan (therefore lacking the amount of training they get), I can use my Byakugan to almost the full extent of my full blooded cousins. The only major impediment: my Byakugans blind spot allows me to see three-hundred and fifty degrees, rather than the full three hundred fifty-nine degrees all the way around most full Hyuuga members can.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm the youngest person in a generation to learn the Kage Bushin no Jutsu, a powerful skill that's supposed to be beyond genin. It's another aspect of my family lines: My chakra coils are the largest in my class. According to my sensei, I have the largest chakra coils of a genin ever since…well, ever since my father. Granted, I don't have the ability to make thousands of them, nor do I have the Kyuubi to augment my chakra as well, but I still make a total of twenty clones without a problem. I have even combined the Kage Bushin with the Jyuuken, into a move that I have named had the "Uzumaki Jyuuken Rendan."

Maybe it's because I have some of the highest grades in class. Well…no…I have the highest grades in my classes. Many of the teachers have said that I am the Uzumaki prodigy, that I should have graduated years before and become a shinobi already. Now, if only the rest of me went along with it. I'm not someone who is really well known for responding well to the attention of others.

Not that I don't get it. In fact, since my father has become Hokage and I have been labeled a "prodigy", I somehow have developed a little club of girls, all of whom are seemingly obsessed with gaining my attention. I try to be courteous and smile, but in every other way I try to ignore them. But that just keeps them coming. If only they were more like some of my friends. But, then again, I still have more friends now than my mother or my father did when they were at the academy.

Dawning my (extremely small) clans traditional deep orange and black jacket (with my clans distinctive red swirl on the back), I smiled back at mirror image of myself. I'm a bit short, but I don't care. After all, I'm the eldest son of the Shichidaime Hokage and the Uzumaki prodigy, right? A little test like the genin exam can't do a thing to stop me!

Right?

- - - - -

"Well, here we go," I muttered to myself as I was the first (as always) to the class. I nodded to Udon-sensei and took my normal seat at the back of the class. I sighed softly as I got settled in to my seat, waiting for one of my good friends to arrive. She was often the one right behind me, and on a day like this…

"Yosh! You beat me again, Satoshi-kun!"

I look up and give my good friend a smile. As early as it was, she was most likely training with her father (A real training psychopath, but seeing as he can't do anything but taijutsu I can't hold it against him), and most likely a bit sweaty. But knowing the ever positive Rock Mai, a little sweat never dampened her mood. Nor her silky black hair. Nor stain her form fitting green shirt and shorts. Nor get into her expressive, almond-hued eyes that always shined…

Oh, crap, am I blushing?

She sat down right next to me, where she stretched slightly, using the back of the seat to stretch and pop her back out. And in doing so, she drew attention to her green clad top and her rather developed chest…those nice, firm…perky….

I had to look away right that second. If I didn't, she'd deem me a pervert and I'd get the beating of a life time. And it wouldn't be the first time that had happened…

_Flashback_

"_Come on, Satoshi-kun, I know you need some practice," Mai-chan said as she did that little pout of her. Damn it! Why was she so good at talking me into this kind of stuff? But with one once over of her…I knew why. But even then I'm a bit apprehensive. In scores, Mai was the best at Taijutsu right under me, and my grade in that department was almost all based on the fact that I had mastered the basics of the Jyuuken fighting style at such a young age. And Mai-chan was right: I needed practice at traditional taijutsu as well. But, since she was better than me at that, I would need a trick or two up my sleeve._

_And I knew just the thing. _

"_Will it be okay for me to use other jutsu?" I ask innocently. I know she won't be happy. Although she, unlike her father, can use ninjutsu, she has weaker then average chakra coils and is not as good with ninjutsu as many other students at the academy. She begins thinking, the whole time her expressive face strangely still. I can only look at her and admire her for her happiness, her willingness to fight, even with a handicap. It's something she had gotten from her father: never give up, regardless of the odd._

_She smiles slyly, then turns back to me and flashes a smile._

"_Sure. I would not mind that. Just do not use the Jyuuken."_

_End Flashback_

I had missed most of her attacks when I had used a Kage Bushin to distract her. I had managed to wrap my arms around her waist as my clone came in for a punch, but Mai had managed to wrestle out of it and moved forward to punch my clone. But with her swift movement, I had lost my grip and, in desperation, shot my hands forward in an attempt to grab something, anything, to keep me from falling over.

Well, I grabbed her chest. It had taken a few seconds (and a destroyed Kage Bushin) for what had happened to register to Mai.

She had gotten so furious that I had ended up with the largest bruise that I had ever had. That was over three months ago and I still have some phantom pains from the bruise she left.

As the class began filling up, I began seeing some of my other friends. Sonozaki Jirou sat to the seats on my left, on the other side of the aisle. He looked like he was hyperventilating. Akamichi Saika sat her in her normal seat just in front of me as she happily munched on some cookies as Nara Shigeru sat next to her. Shigeru had his normal bored grimace stretching across his face as his sleepy looking blue eyes scanned the class. He gave me a halfhearted wave, which I happily returned when the buzzing of insects and irritatingly high pitched laughter became harbingers of large headaches of mine.

Aburame Shizuka. The most irritating person I have ever met. A whirlwind of bugs, destruction, and high pitched laughter, Shizuka was someone who had to be almost as smart as me but decided to use that skill for the dumbest of things. He was petty, obnoxious, and altogether annoying. He was the one person who I couldn't really stand. He coming towards me and Mai-chan…and passed us. Phew. I really don't need a headache today. He keeps going and sits down in one of the lower seats. Sighing slightly, I let my gaze scan the room.

I look down at a girl who I barely know. She was giving me a massive smile and what my uncle Sasuke had called the "fan-girl googily eyes." I smile back politely, but then she turns bright red and begins giggling. I then turn away, and I know she's still staring at me expectantly. Damnable fan girls. Damnable Aburame who had decided to be so much different then his parents. Well, the role is being called and the tension is thick. Hell, what do you expect? On a day like this, it's understandable.

- - - - -

Okay…okay…here we go. I need to focus. I need to keep myself cool. This is a big part of the exam, and it's on the Bushin no Jutsu. It's supposed to be an easy one but with this amount of pressure on everyone (and especially on me…damnable "prodigy" label) I really don't know how I'll do. As I got up with the call of my name, I know that there are a lot of eyes on me. However, because of my name, I was third to last. The other two people I recognized as "members" of my fan club. I smiled slightly at both of them (throwing both into fits of giggles, much to my dismay) and slowly, haltingly, made my way to the door. Sighing slightly to get my jitters out, I open the door and go through.

Udon-sensei is there, as well as Shikamaru-sensei. Udon-sensei smiles slightly as I come through, but Shikamaru-sensei has his normal grimace. I know that, despite his bored look, cared a lot about the students. In fact, I know that he was probably as calculating and intelligent as his own son, and therefore expected a lot out of him.

But Shigeru aside, I need to concentrate. I know the test is on the Bushin no Jutsu. Udon-sensei and Shikamaru-sensei both nodded to each other and Udon sensei brought up a clipboard.

"You may begin, Uzumaki-san," Udon-sensei said.

I cringed a little bit inwardly. I know he probably said that to every student, but with me it's a bit…well…odd. Many people have called me that, more often then not because of my father and his rank. But…this was my teacher.

Okay, I need to stop that. Now. I need to focus. I need to mold my chakra and make at least three clones. I slowly go through the few hand signs and concentrate greatly on the whole thing. I need to keep focus…need to keep focus…

"Bushin no Jutsu!"

I didn't want to look. I didn't want to look up and see that I had created only one or two Bushin. Slowly, carefully, I opened my eyes to survey the damage. Instantly, my eyes shot open to see my clones. I was staring at seven perfect clones around me, all of whom had the glassy look of the mindless clone who simply acted. I smiled slightly, and when I turned to my senseis I was pleasantly surprised. Shikamaru-sensei really didn't have a reaction, but judging by Udon-senseis' reaction I know I did pretty good.

'Well, well, Uzumaki-san. You truly are a prodigy," Udon-sensei said as I dismissed the clones. I smiled slightly in response, my hand going to the back of my head. It's a bit of a habit that I picked up from my dad, but I do it often when I'm embarrassed. But, the next thing Shikamaru-sensei said not only made me happy, but with the small smile he shot me made me all the happier.

"You pass the genin exam."

I could only smile. I mean, my smile is not my normal, slightly shy smile I get around Mai-chan or the polite one I have when dealing with those older then me or (more often then not) someone who annoyed me. It was a full smile, much like my fathers wide, bright smile. Like the one my sister wears when she is having a good time. I could only smile (and guessing in my smile I look like an idiot, but I really don't care) as I was awarded my headband. I smiled as I walked out, to be congratulated by many people (the majority of them being fan girls) before seeing the three people I had wanted to see: My family. I see Mai-chan with her father. Both of them give me a thumbs-up as congratulations, but my attention is far more on Mai-chan, whos smile is not as big as her fathers, but still full of confidence and happiness. I smile back, but quickly turn my head away, trying to fight the heat that is coming up my face. I then see all my other friends, but it is when I catch a flash of blond I freeze.

Wait. That's Ino-san. Damn. She is happily hugging Shigeru, who has his headband tied around his arm, much like his father. I know that, despite his grumbling, Shigeru is more then happy to have that headband and taking after his mother and father as a ninja, despite the fact that his mother is "embarrassing" him currently.

Then, there is a flash of blonde hair that comes almost out of nowhere and grips me hardly down the middle. I look down to see the bright blonde hair that signifies my younger sister, Uzumaki Rika. I stroke the top of her head while she tightens her grip. She then looks up and smiles at me, her milky white eyes shining happiness.

"You're a ninja, nii-nii!" she happily proclaims as she grabs my hand and begins happily dragging me towards the direction she came from. I'm just flabbergasted that Rika, a girl four years my junior, could have as much energy to drag me to wherever it is she wants to take me. She stops at what looks to be the back of the crowd and lets go of my hand.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," came a calm, happy voice to my left. I instantly recognize the voice. I smile happily as I turn to face the voice, seeing the man who I have looked up to my whole life. His spiky blonde hair was hidden in the Hokages traditional hat, his normally orange clothes covered by Hokage robes. However, his blue eyes were shining with happiness and he was smiling the same smile I was. I know he saw the headband on my forehead, showing me as a genin of Konohagakure. Knowing my Father, the Shichidaime Hokage of Konohagakure, he was about a second away from grabbing me and pulling me into a large hug.

True to my predictions, I'm pulled in and given a happy hug by my father. Unlike Shigeru, I don't fight it. I don't mind it at all. After a few second (most of it with me not being able to breathe) I see my sister standing with my mother, bedecked in her own robes. She smiles happily before coming and delivering a hug of her own. My moms wasn't as hard, but had just as much caring. Then my friends come, to happily discuss how they did on the exam. Shigeru stands back, his bored look staying as Saika munches on her cookies. Jirou sits at the head of the group, still not believing his luck. Mai-chan says that she was barely able to produce three clones, and is shocked that I made seven. There are plenty of people who gather around, and the one fan girl who I had smiled to at the beginning of class was a bit…well…clingy. I wish that it was Mai-cahn there and not this annoying redhead there on my arm.

My parents go to join all their own friends, many of whom had shown up to see the graduates. To think, now I am among that number of people who have graduated the Academy. Next would be the assignment of teams, and then…and…then…

Oh, crap.

**END**

**A/N:** Well, the first of Legends of the Past chapter is up. Soon, another story will be up and the two will be updated one at a time. Now, it actually ties into the two previous Naruto stories, Tales of a Would be Jounin and Requiem for the Rokudaime, so my normal readers will pick up on things from both of them. In fact, expect a visit soon from Anko and Irukas son!

As a side note, I like writing in the first person then I do the Third. I'd like some input on it (plus a beta or two maybe?)

But, as I have been working on stories, I have decided to create, well, a massive multi-story epic in my naruto stories. There are

Story One - "No Name Yet" -This is a story in the works right now, chronicling Jiriyas experiences with his first genin team.

Story Two - The Gathering Storm - In the works, a story that I have started out a wee bit immature, but it will get better! Honest! Anywho, the first Naruto-centric story I've wrote.

Story Three – Tales of a Would be Jounin – The third story is, ironically enough, the first story I wrote. My first attempt at a Naruto story went relatively well, and it had an odd pairing: Iruka/Anko

Story Four – "No Name Yet" - The lynch-pin story of mine, where many of the big things that have been hinted at are to happen.

Story Five - Road to the Future (Working title) – This is another lynch-pin, this time for a certain silver-haired shinobi...heeheehee

Story Six – Requiem for the Rokudaime – The final thoughts on Hatake Kakashi, Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure.

Story Seven – Legends of the Past – The adventures of Uzumaki Satoshi! And the very story you're reading! Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!


	2. Assignments

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Assignments

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Two: Assignments**

Okay, now I really have to think. The team setups were as follows from my fathers' generation: Lee, my aunt Ten Ten, and my uncle Neji, all as heavy combat specialists from the year just before my mothers and fathers. With Lees taijutsu, Nejis skill with the Jyuuken, and Ten tens weapons skills made them ideal in situations where combat would be imminent. Should I be on a team like that, there is a chance that I would be paired with Mai-chan. There is also a team like my fathers, with high chakra skill and availability, but with enough flexibility to fit nearly every role. I think a team like that is classified as "Generalist" or "Multi-role". Another team would be my mothers, with Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, a scout team. In the case of the third team that passed that year, it was with a group of genin who came from families whose abilities complemented each other very well, so that one is effectively cancelled as a possibility for me. Plus, there was an effective scout team of genins that graduated last year.

If placed on the first type of team, I would be with Mai-chan. If placed on the second team, I _could_ still be paired with Mai-chan. But then there is also a chance I could be paired with another group, without a kunoichi I know, or a kunoichi altogether. However, most successful teams I have seen had a kunoichi on it. Team Nidaime. The Legendary Sannin. Team Yondaime. Team Kakashi. Team Naruto. Team Sasuke. They always had a kunoichi on them, and they were so successful. Maybe having a kunoichi is like a good luck charm for teams.

Regardless of what team I am on, I know one thing: I want to be on a team with Mai-chan.

Now, I just need to find out just how hard the initiation would be. I know that out of all the graduates, only nine are allowed in as genin. I need the advice of someone who survived not only the Genin Exam, but the chunin exam himself. I need to talk to Umino Kakashi. He knows what its like to get passed the thing that the teachers do.

That's why I'm at the Umino residence now, with my cousin. I know that he normally is on a mission at this time, but my luck held and I was able to catch him just before he was about to leave.

"So, your worried about the team your gonna be on?" Kakashi said as he stretched out his body. He was a good combination of his parents, and when he wore his hair in a ponytail (which he did often) the resemblance would be uncanny to both of them, although a bit more wiry then both. He normally wears the standard chunin attire, but with a dark trench coat over it and the chunin vest open over that. I sometimes wonder if he was so skinny because he sweated profusely. After his stretching, I nodded and waited for him to respond.

And he kept stretching. I cleared my throat, which drew his attention.

"Oh, oh! Right! Sorry about that, Satoshi. Anywho, Sasuke-sensei gave us a test in which we had to take some bells from him. It was a real pain in the ass, but I know that the only reason why my team and I made it was that we were a team. I know that's what you'll be tested on," Kakashi said, his face becoming thoughtful. I could only nod, while internally I was a bit frightened: what if it was with one of my fan girls, or worse, Shizuka? How the hell would I be able to work with them? If it wasn't Mai-chan, Shigeru, Saika, or Jirou, there were gonna be a lot of problems.

"Oi, Kakashi-kun, we gotta get going," came a soft voice from behind me. I instantly spun, knowing that just a few seconds before there was no one behind me. I saw a young woman who looked to be roughly Kakashis age. She was rather muscular, with silver hair and dark eyes. But what drew me to her was beauty: the woman in front of me was, without a shadow of a doubt, a knockout.

Not as much as Mai-chan, but damn near close.

"Sorry about that, Chiyaki-chan. Didn't mean to keep you and Kazushige waiting. Just gotta give my cousin here some words of advise," Kakashi said, as I searched my mind for that name. After a second, it struck me: she was Chiyaki, the daughter of Shizune-sama, one of the most respected medic nin in Konoha. She was assigned as a team member to Kakashi and one Nomura Kazushige under my uncle Sasuke. They had become a rather highly thought of team, and one of the youngest teams to try for jounin (granted none of them made it, but the fact that they tried for it was amazing in and of itself), with Chiyaki being a medic-nin of almost as much skill as her mother. Plus, the fact she had silver hair and had similar personality traits often had her marked as the love child of a tryst between Shizune and the Rokudaime Hokage, Hatake Kakashi.

"Well, Kazushige is getting a bit restless. To quote, 'If he is not out here within three minutes, I'm personally going to give him a rectal exam with Mugen'."

Kakashi let out a laugh, before turning back to me.

"Sorry about this, but I don't feel like getting my ass poked at by a sword. I'm gonna get going now," After a shift of weight, Kakashi got up and slowly walked out the door, with Chiyaki right on his heels. I was soon left with no one around. I know Iruka was most likely with the Council, while Anko was probably at the jounin tower. But, with all my questions about the genin assignments and the test afterwards, I still have one question to ask, and I have to wait until tomorrow to find out the answer.

Who is going to be on my team?

- - - - -

As the day came for the assignments, I became more and more concerned. I don't really know who would be in what group. I was really worried. What if I was stuck with some googily-eyed fan girl who didn't have a clue how to act? What if I was stuck with a team with someone who I wasn't able to find any sort of synergy (okay, now that I think about it, that's not likely. With my mixed skills, I would be able to find something that would work)? What if I had to work with Shizuka?

My thoughts consume me so much, I don't even notice when I run into the wall. I cuss under my breath, and then I feel tugs at two of my sides. I open my eyes to see two of my fan girls pulling me in opposite directions, all the while glaring at me. I'm shocked that these two would have come in early enough to do this.

"Satoshi-kun will be on MY team, Satoko-teme!" screamed Rabid Fan Girl #1, a blond girl who I barely recognize from my class.

"Let go of him, you stupid pig! He'll do much better on MY team!" Rabid Fan Girl # 2 (I'm guessing this is "Satoko-teme", as fan girl one called her) screamed back. The two then began using my arms as a tug-of-war rope. I stutter and stammer, trying to say something beyond the inane babble coming out of my own mouth.

Suddenly, there is a rush of green and I'm pulled hard into the classroom, much to the indignant squeals of the two girls. I can only blush as the blur slows and shows the normally smiling form of Rock Mai glaring indignantly at the two girls, one of whom I recognize as the redhead hanging off of me yesterday.

"Why did you do that to Satoshi-kun?" Mai-chan demanded angrily.

Am I hearing that right? She wouldn't do anything like that…

"You keep that up and you will dislocate his shoulders. He will be of no use to his team members then!" Mai-chan finished. She flashed a massive smile and jerked her thumb skyward. "It would have a negative effect on his taijutsu as well."

Damn. Well, I guess I can't expect anything otherwise. My foolish fan girls are a bunch of idiots, and the one girl who I looked up to, the one girl who I thought of as more then a friend doesn't see me as such. It seems to be my fate. Well, its time for the assignments. Normally, I'd be paying full attention, but today I really don't care about it. I just want to know who of my friends is teamed with whom.

As soon as Udon-sensei walked in, the atmosphere grew thick. I knew it was really stressful to some people (Namely, me. Damnable "prodigy" label!) and I knew it was going to be rough. Now that I think about it, what will happen to the kunoichi added to my team? The fan girls would tear her apart!

"Team One will consist of…"

Everyone is hanging off of Udon-senseis words…

"Akamichi Saika, Nara Shigeru, and Sonozaki Jirou."

Okay, the first two I saw coming. Come on, The Akamichi, Nara, and Yamanaka combo (also known as "Ino-Shika-Cho" by my father). And now that I think about it, seeing the Sonozaki families penchant for using chain weapons, I can easily see the last addition. Shigeru and Jirou hold the enemy down, and Saika Meat Tanks them. Great combo.

"Alright, Team Two will consist of…"

- - - - -

Damn it! This is nerve wracking! All the teams are listed up until five, then why the hell am I still waiting! I'm gonna have a heart attack with all this waiting.

"Team Five will consist of…"

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Who's it gonna be?

"Aburame Shizuka, Rock Mai…"

God damn it! Why the hell is that annoying little bastard assigned with Mai-chan!

"…and Uzumaki Satoshi."

What the hell? I…really don't how to act. I am happy that I'm with Mai-chan (and thank all things that are holy I'm not paired up with any fan girls!), but then I am wholly confused (not to mention repulsed) that I am paired with Shizuka. Tactically, I can see one or another, but why both? If my team is a combat specialist team, why do we have Shizuka? If this was a scout team, then why is Mai-chan here? I am hopelessly confused.

Uh-oh. In my mental wanderings, I missed most of the genins assigned to Team Six. I see the red head begin to pout. I guess that's Satoko. She gives me the most pathetically sad face, watery eyes and all, as she mouths "Why not with you, Satoshi-kun" at me. Why, out of all the girls who are in my fan club, why do the weird ones have to be the most physical ones?

I wonder how my uncle Sasuke was able to deal with that amount of absurdity.

Mai smiles a little smile and flashes me a thumbs up as Udon-sensei begins calling Team Seven. My mind blanks as I see Shizuka, in the seat just ahead of me, make a VERY rude gesture at me behind my back. As soon as I see that, the part of my personality dominated by my father wants to reach out and smack the bastard in the head. But, like I had said before, I take more after my mother. So I ignore the indignation and, once the final team is called and we are excused for lunch, Mai gave me the Rock family patented "shiny smile". All I could do is blush like an idiot, all the while trying to keep from stammering.

"It looks like you and I are on the same team, Satoshi-kun!" She said exuberantly, earning a glare from many of the members of my fan club. I raised my hand to the back of my head in my normal embarrassed gesture, but my arm is immediately pulled down, and two surprisingly strong arms gripped it. I was pulled off balance, and nearly toppled into the red head right next to me.

"Why did fate have to be so cruel to pair my Satoshi-kun with the brute-strength baka?" Satoko waxed eloquently, as she glared at Mai-chan. I could only stammer at the statement. Mai looked ready for blood. She was getting extremely mad at the redhead who was now being pulled off of my arm by two boys who looked exactly alike. I could only guess they were her teammates. Of course, before she was pulled out of earshot she screamed "brute strength baka" again. I tried to calm Mai-chan down, but before I could even say anything she took off like a shot after the red head, most likely to leave the redhead feel a world of pain.

Jeez, sometimes Mai-chan can have on hell of a temper. I was about to grab something for lunch when loud, obnoxious laughing came from behind me. Cursing myself for staying here too long, I could only turn to see Shizuka.

The bastard wore the normal clothes of an Aburame, with the whole jacket and glasses, but Shizuka wears his jacket open and wears his glasses low. He has that stupid ass smirk of his, and I know he's gonna say something annoying or stupid. Possibly both.

"Looks like your little harem is tearing itself apart!" Shizuka said to me, giving me a look that I just couldn't decipher.

I want to strangle this guy! But what did he mean by "my little harem"?

"To think, some cute girl like Mai-chan has to be on the same team as you!" Shizuka said, before beginning that shrieking high pitched laughter of his. He then shot off on his own, his laughter echoing through the halls. I could only shake my head, wishing I had just smashed his face in, breaking those stupid little glasses of his apart And, in a move befitting the son of the prank master of Konoha, I was already scheming…

Why, why am I in a team with that bastard!

Wait. Wait a second. Did…did he just call Mai-chan a cute girl? Did he just call Mai-chan "Mai-chan"?

This day can't be any worse, can it?

- - - - -

My lunch was slow, uncomfortable, and all-together uneventful, which made me think time and again about what Shizuka had said. He had said that Mai-chan was cute. Well, I didn't disagree with him, but the fact it came from him made the statement all the more disturbing. I could look "underneath the underneath" like my dad said to do. But if I did that, I really don't like what I'm seeing. It meant, on some sort of wavelength it meant Shizuka had some sort of attraction to Mai-chan. That meant that I wasn't the only one who cared about her, but that an annoying bastard who I had to share the team with someone after her affections as well.

Knowing my luck, he'll do something stupid that will catch her attention, and then that is that. The only reason why the fan girls are after me was more the fact I was from a famous family then the fact I was good looking. Once again, I have to curse the "prodigy" label. I get a lot of unwanted attention from the people I honestly don't give a damn about, while the one girl I do like doesn't see me as anything more then a friend.

My situation sucks more then most people realize.

Well, after I finish the lunch and make my way back to the room, I see several older people, some of whom looked to be the senseis. As I saw them walk off one at a time, I see that after about ten minutes there are only two teams were left: Team One, with Shigeru, Saike, and Jirou, and my team. Thank god the crazy redhead…uh…Satoko was gone already, taken off by an older Kunoichi.

Suddenly, there was a crash and a loud bang outside, accompanied with colorful cursing from a familiar sounding voice. As soon as that happened, two major things happened that pulled me away from trying to figure out who it was and why he (the deepness of the words tell me it's a man, not a woman) was there:

One: Shizuka began laughing like a madman, most likely because whoever was outside had fallen for another of his pranks. Great. Whoever it was out there was most likely going to go on a tirade on how "true shinobi don't play pranks". Now, normally I would agree, but look at my father and Inuzuka Kiba-san! They were prank pullers themselves!

What am I saying? My dad and Kiba-san are exceptions to the rule, not the rule itself! Shizuka is a perfect example of a prankster who was also a dimwit.

Two: Udon-senseis ears perked a little bit, and then he smiled. I could only look in curiosity. Why was he smiling? Then, at the moment I'm still trying said something that made the laughter stop and my blood run cold.

"It looks like Team Fives jounin has shown up."

Immediately, I began to glare at Shizuka, and I was happy to see that Mai-chan was glaring, too. The rice-paper door slid open, and who walked in I didn't need an introduction to. The big man that stood in front of me I knew right away.

"Team Five, allow me to introduce you to your jounin-sensei: Sarutobi Konohamaru."

**END**

**A/N: **Oh holy crap. I can't believe that I had as much response to Legends as I have already. Its so happying to me (Yay, I made up a new word!) to see that sort of response!

Anywho, thanks to all for being readers, and especially to Silver Warrior and Alchemy202 for the offers!


	3. The First Test

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** The First Test

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Three: The First Test**

Well, it's now safe to say that I am in a major predicament. Thanks to my "wonderful" new teammate, I had pissed off a person who I had known all my life as an Uncle (okay, I don't have any living related beyond the Hyuuga clan, but I have a lot of surrogate "cousins", "aunts", and "uncles"). He was a skilled jounin, nowhere near the "annoying little kid" as my dad has jokingly referred to him as. He has a goatee, not unlike his uncle, Asuma-san, and was well known for being extremely skilled in elemental jutsu. Now, with Shizuka-teme having just played a prank on our sensei, his opinion will instantly become negative. Now, with the fact someone he knows is on the team (i.e. me), he would definitely be disappointed in what had just transpired.

Now was the exact moment that my fathers' blood boiled over, and it took all of my control to not reach out and begin strangling the irritating Aburame. Now Konohamaru-san…no, Konohamaru-sensei, was now looking us down, now looking extremely irritated.

Shizuka had the Aburame look on him to keep himself out of trouble, but the fact he seemed to keep shaking from time to time made it look like he was trying to hold in laughter. Why did the guy have to be such a fool? I could only look down as Konohamaru-sensei took us away from the room. I was certain he was silently fuming, as he had not once said a thing at all, since he had his brief introduction and told us to come with him.

I wonder if this was the beginning of the end for my shinobi career. To be completely honest, I really don't know what else I'd be otherwise. I sure in hell can't play the spoiled heir, because my fathers' whole thing was earning everything you have through work. That's why, when I had shown my intelligence, my father always said to give it my all. Never let myself simply lean on my genius and become complacent and shocked when someone who had worked for their skill beat me (when he told me that, I remember my uncle Sasuke muttering something under his breath).

So, I know that, should the whole thing go bad, I know that Mai-chan, her father being a "genius of hard work," would take after him and work at it until she passed. Me? I'm not too sure. And with each passing step, I have a feeling I should start looking at what possibilities I have available to me.

"Alright, this is good," Konohamaru-sensei said curtly, turning to face us.

It looked like we were about to get yelled at. All thanks to the idiot. I just closed my eyes and waited for it…and waited for it…

Then I heard deep chuckling from Konohamaru-sensei. I tentatively open one of my eyes to see him smiling happily, the whole time his eyes looking straight at Shizuka. I turned my head to see Shizuka, whose eyebrows are far above his glasses. I know that I looked shocked and confused, and I am glad to see that Mai-chan has the exact same look on her face. I could only look towards Konohamaru-sensei for an answer…any answer…to what was just happening.

"Your prank was simple, but always a favorite of mine. After all, who could see water on the floor like that when not paying attention to where you are walking," Konohamaru-sensei said. "Now, I know it may not have looked like it at first, but this is a lesson."

O…kay? I don't quite know why a prank could be used as a lesson as to being a shinobi. How does water on the floor give you insight into the ways of the shinobi? I looked to Mai-chan, to see if she had an answer. She simply shrugged. Okay, she didn't get it either. So, what did this have anything to do with being a genin? What did this have to do with being a shinobi?

"Well, I know you don't believe me, Satoshi-san, and neither do you, Mai-san. Well let me explain: Because I did not pay attention to my surroundings, I had fallen victim to Shizuka-sans prank. Now, what if it had been an enemy shinobis trap I could have been killed," Konohamaru-sensei said, his voice becoming serious. In a second, it all snapped together. If it had been a trap, rather then just some water, Konohamaru-sensei could have had his feet impaled or dropped into a pit or have had stones dropped on him in an ambush.

Jezz, some genius I am.

"Okay, if you three wanna get comfortable, lets get down to business," Konohamaru-sensei said as he settled against a rock that went up to his waist. I looked around, to see where we were.

I was so busy studying my feet and getting lost in my thoughts to notice where he was taking us. I looked up to see that we were actually in the training grounds, where at varying times ninja came there to do their training. It was a place I knew Mai-chans father knew well. It was where Lee-san trained with his own jounin sensei, so many years ago. Kind of appropriate, seeing as my uncle Neji had trained here, and this wasn't too far from where Shino-san trained with Team Kurenai.

"Why don't we all go around and introduce one another?" Konohamaru said. Okay…this is not exactly what I expected, but hey, why not?

"Now, I am Sarutobi Konohamaru. I am your jounin teacher, and I am also the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage. I like training and…pranking (now, his eyes are on Shizuka). As for my dislikes and dreams...I guess you'll just to have to find out on yourself. Now, Satoshi, your next," Konohamaru-sensei said, his eyes directly on me. I also feel two more eyes as well

I turn a little red. Great. I hate unwarranted attention like this.

"Ano…I'm Uzumaki Satoshi. I…uh…I'm…the…highest scoring student of my class. I like r-ramen, reading..."

Damn it, stop stuttering! This is something that I disliked about myself, and what I hear of my mothers schooldays, this was a problem of hers as well. There is a scoff from Shizuka. I give him a quick glare and begin again.

"Uh…I dislike…unwanted attention. I want…to be the beginning of a great new clan in Konoha. To lead my family to a place that I think it should be...with…" I instantly turn a bright red as I cast a quick glance to Mai-chan, who flashes a big smile.

"Do not worry, Satoshi-kun! Your dream will become a reality, should you work at it!" Mai-chan said loudly as she happy gave me a thumbs-up. I turn red and look away, but now I feel a set of angry eyes on me. Knowing what I know now about his feelings for Mai-chan, I can instantly tell the anger I'm feeling is Shizukas.

"Alright, now, since you decided to jump in, why don't you go next," Konohamaru-sensei said. I know that he was talking to Mai-chan.

"Hai! I am Rock Mai, daughter of Rock Lee and Rock Aya! Even with one of my parents now gone, I strive to be a genius of hard work, like my father before me! I wish to become as skilled as my peers, and be able to defeat those who are geniuses and do not have respect for hard work!"

Wow. Even when talking about the woman who died to give birth to her, Mai-chan could still be positive. I could only smile at her happiness, when Shizuka begins making gagging noises right next to me. My smile fades, and I have to again stifle the urge to smack the idiot on the back of the head. Geez the guy knows how to rub on my last nerve!

"Alright! I am Aburame Shizuka, the heir of the Aburame clan. I like pranking and bugs. I don't like stuck up snobs (he shoots a glance at me. Why the hell am I a stuck up snob?) or anyone who likes to think of me as the 'icky-bug boy' (another look at me! What is this guy hinting at!) As for my dream…well, I hope to be the most powerful of the Aburame!"

"Okay, now to the next…" Konohamaru-sensei started, but something was really burning at me. Why this group? Why this team?

"Ano…sensei…uh…why exactly were the three of us chosen to be on a team?" I asked tentatively.

"I was wondering the SAME thing," Shizuka said, his irritation obvious. He sent me a quick glare, which I knew meant he didn't want to be in the same team with me as well.

Well, the same goes for you, Shizuka-teme!

"Well, this team is two-fold. As you know, it is traditional to team the top-scoring student of the graduating classes with the lowest scoring student of their class. Well, Shizuka, you are the lowest scoring student that passed this year. You were even lower then Nara Shigeru," Konohamaru-sensei said, sounding almost sagely. I hid a small smirk as I knew Shizuka was now fuming at the remark.

"Sensei, you said it was two-fold. What do you mean by that?" Mai-chan asked, her hand under her face in a thoughtful manner.

"Ah, I see you were paying attention, young Mai. Yes, it was brought to our attention that we do have a good scout team, consisting of a Hyuuga, an Inuzuka, and an Uchiha. However, what we lack is something that could perform a scout mission while still having a good amount of firepower. Now, with all of you, you are ideal for what has been called a 'Heavy Scout' team. With your various skills, abilities, and speed, you would be able to participate in missions that could be general, but is easily adapted for scout work or moderate to heavy combat. This team I am talking about is what the elders have seen for the three of you," Konohamaru-sensei said.

Okay…I am still having a few problems with this explanation. I can see with Mai-chan and myself, or (regrettably) with Shizuka and myself. Even I could possibly see Mai-chan with Shizuka…in some way. All of them threaten to make me sick, but I could see some possibilities. All three of us together on a single team? I really don't see how that's going to be beneficial.

"Let me explain this again: With Mais speed and strength, it would make her ideal of a team that would require a lot of movement and combat. Now, with Shizuka, his kikai bugs are key to his success in the team. With his fathers' success in a scout team, that would make him ideal for a scout team as well. However, at the academy, Shizuka showed unusual success in deploying his bugs quickly in combat actions. That would make him well suited for combat situations as well. Now, as you Satoshi, you show unprecedented skill with both the Byakugan and Kage Bushin. With the first, you would be ideal for a scout team while with the latter you would be ideal for a combat team, particularly when you combine your Kage Bushin with the Jyuuken," Konohamaru said, in an almost sagely manner. I simply looked to Mai-chan and Shizuka. Both of them had confused looks on their faces.

"Okay, now show me your best attack, starting with you, Shizuka," Konohamaru-sensei said.

Wait, what? How were we going to do that? I see Shizuka look between Mai-chan and myself, then gets up. I lift my eyebrow in curiosity, then I'm a bit shocked when Shizuka turned to me and lifted his hand, pointing to me.

"No, no, we aren't challenging one another. Here, I'll give you some targets," Konohamaru-sensei said quickly, bringing his hands up into a hand sign I am very familiar with. A rush of chakra went through Konohamaru-sensei, and then the words that came out of his mouth proved it.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

Three perfect clones of Konohamaru-sensei stood before us, all of them standing with varying postures. Then, like under an imaginary whistle, the three of them moved towards the open field in front of us. One of them yawned loudly, while the others glared at the first.

"Okay, since you were so eager to start, you'll go first," Konohamaru said, as he motioned to the field where the clones were. Shizuka grumbled under his breath and walked to the field. I had to see this. The guy was going to make a fool of himself. The first clone, the yawner, moved forward and stood in a half-hearted fighting stance. Shizuka just stood there, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

In a flash, the buzzing of insects could even be heard from where I was. A black cloud flew out from under the Aburame clans normal trench coat and flew surprisingly fast at the clone. The clone stumbled backwards as the cloud enveloped him. The, in a flash, Shizuka streaked forward and thrust his fist through the black cloud, which parted to show the clone, struggling to hold its form. With the punch, aimed deep at the clones' chest, the clone blew apart with a puff of smoke. Shizuka began walking back to us, a smirk crossing on his face. I could only look with shock.

That was good. How the hell was I gonna top that? How was I gonna do better then that show of skill? How the hell did Shizuka-teme know how to do that? Now Konohamaru-senseis eyes are on me. Great. I'm gonna top that, and now I have to think of it right now. I get up, then I stare intently at the clone that I guess I was fighting. What was I gonna do? What was I gonna do…?

Hey. I know what to do.

Okay, the clone is standing in front of me, his face looking bored and his hands in the pockets. I put my arms up in the traditional stance of Jyuuken. Then, I draw my far hands in and begin channeling chakra into the necessary hand signs. I felt the familiar feeling of chakra being drawn to my eyes, and with the shifting and warping of the blood vessels around my eyes know that my Byakugan was activating. With a rush of chakra I switched my hand signs and rushed forward. When I finished, I say the telltale blur of one of my clones shooting ahead of me. With a burst of chakra, the first Jyuuken blow was struck.

_Uz._

I jumped skyward, using the first clone as a springboard. I don't flip, like my father when performing his version, and as I look down I see another clone perform a leg sweep on the clone, sending it pitching backwards.

_U._

The last two clones of mine shoot to one knee each, then twist and kick upwards, sending the clone stomach first towards me, as I looked down from my position just above the now flying clone.

_Ma._

_Ki._

Gathering the chakra into my hands for the final blow I twisted and sent my palm into the clones' stomach, while unleashing the long blue line of chakra into the clones' chest. After a second of just seeming to float there, then gravity took its toll and both me and the clone began falling towards the ground. As the ground grew closer and closer, and then the clone blew apart in a cloud of smoke as the clone connected with the ground.

_Jyuuken Rendan._

I got up and turned towards the sensei, deactivating my Byakugan. Konohamaru-sensei was unreadable, looking more like he was bored then curious. Shizuka was almost pale at the display. Then I turned to Mai-chan, and I begin to turn red (or I would, If I wasn't already through the display I just did.

She looked at me with pure adoration.

I began walking back, and then Mai-chan jumped up, with a big smile on her face. I begin blushing profusely as she began walking towards me. Then she started charging towards me, I froze. What in the hell is going on here? Why is she doing that?

"Uzumaki Satoshi, I proudly proclaim you my eternal rival!" Mai-chan declared as she came within speaking distance.

Right then, I had become numb.

What…what just happened? She…she called me her eternal rival?

What was that supposed to mean?

I wracked my memory, and only a faint memory about "eternal rivalry" was when my dad said something about his sensei being the eternal rival of Maito Gai (as my father called him, "Thick Brows Sensei").

Mai-chan then charged forward, towards the final clone that was behind me. I could only walk numbly back to where I had sat, looking at my feet. I settled into my mind, trying to find out what she meant. She said eternal rival, much like the way her father said it. Her fathers "eternal rival" was Hyuuga Neji, my uncle. And…

Wait.

Did that mean she hated me? But then why did she say that? I know she is competitive. Hell, saying she was competitive was an understatement. But to declare me her "eternal rival"? Why did this happen?

Then it dawned on me. She has seen me use the Jyuuken before. She has seen me use the Kage Bushin before. But she never once had seen me use the Uzumaki Jyuuken Rendan. I had always practiced that with my father, after seeing him use the Uzumaki Naruto Rendan. I had combined what my mother had taught me with what my father had taught me. Because I am not technically part of the Hyuuga clan, I can't learn anything beyond the basics my mother could teach me about the Jyuuken.

So, I had to improvise and the Uzumaki Jyuuken Rendan was the result.

Now, Mai-chan did something that could only be described as poetry in motion. She ducks down and kicks upward, sending the clone skyward in a single move. She then leaps behind the clone and roughly grabs the cuff of the clone. After a twist, the clone flies into the ground and Mai-chan, using the momentum from the throw, began twisting at a high speed and flew into the clone, making it disappear.

"Impressive. Each and every one of you were impressive here. But that does not make you shinobi. Tomorrow you three will meet here and you will undertake the final test to see if you will become genin. It is something you three need to find on your own. No one else can help," Konohamaru-sensei said, his voice serious.

"Dismissed!"

**END**

**A/N: **Haahaahaa! I know its cruel to Satoshi-kun, but man is it appropriate! With the declaration of "eternal rivalry" will there be a chance of any sort of romance there? What is up with Shizuka? Mwahahaha! You'll just have to read and find out!


	4. The Second Test

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** The Second Test

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Four: The Second Test**

I really didn't sleep that night. I know that the talk today was a test: a test to see how well we interacted and how well we would work together as a team. Tomorrow I would have to take part in the make or break test to see if the team was worthy to become genin themselves. I know that I wasn't able to get sleep, so I could only look up at the ceiling as the hours ticked away. I know I should get to sleep….I know I should get to sleep.

I didn't get to sleep. As the hours ticked away, I grew more and more nervous. And, sooner then I had realized (I guess I did finally nod off) it was early morning. I slowly got out of bed and just as slowly began dressing. I get on my black pants, my deep blue undershirt, and my clan jacket. As I make my way out, I check the clock. Seven thirty. It's an hour and a half before the meeting between Team Five with Konohamaru-sensei. But my mind honestly isn't on that. I know that everyone was counting on me. However, I really don't know if I could do it. I honestly don't know if I could live up to the expectation of the "Uzumaki prodigy".

I made a beeline for the training ground, trying to avoid any stares (okay, it's early in the day, so I don't think much of anyone is one the street, let alone stare at me) and make my way to the training yard. The whole way, I'm trying to keep myself from hyperventilating and keeping myself up. As I make it there, I'm, as usual, the first one there.

Four…

three…

two…

one…

In a flash of green and a rush of leaves, Mai-chan made her appearance in the yard. She then brings her hand to her eyes, almost as if looking for someone…possibly…oh no. Her eternal rival. Me! I dive into the nearest bush. Despite my best efforts, she spots me and gives me a massive smile (Curse you, stupid bush! You didn't help at all). Then, with little warning or time to react, she charges at me. I'm honestly stuck to where I stood…er, hid. The way she was running at me, it looked almost like she was going to jump into my arms and…

"THERE YOU ARE, MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Mai-chan declared as she skidded to a stop a foot away from me and flashed me a Good Guy (uh…Good Girl in her case) smile. I just had to sigh as I slowly made my way out of the bush.. Of all the cruel fates, why the hell this? Why did she declare me her eternal rival? She gave me a smile, and it made me almost forget what was going on. Then she walked over to where I stood, and she stood face to face with me, her face no more then six inches from my own. As soon as she had gotten close, she gave me another smile.

"I think you may have misunderstood when I proclaimed you my eternal rival, Satoshi-kun. You looked almost betrayed, and I know you are close with your friends," Mai-chan said, her voice far softer then normal.

When she was that close to me and talked like that, I pay close attention. I also always have to fight down a deep blush (much like the one that's rising up right at this moment) and have to stop from stammering (which I'm pretty sure I'd be doing if I were talking).

"Being the eternal rival of one of the Rock family is a way to test ourselves against someone who is a natural genius. You, like the eternal rivals of my father and his sensei before, are a genius. Unlike my father and his sensei before him, our rivalry shall be a friendly one. After all, you appreciate hard work, unlike many geniuses," Mai-chan continued, her voice becoming almost sagely.

"Ano…I-I…I'm g-glad we can…still be f-friends…Mai-chan," I stammered out (again with the stammering! I'm pathetic!) as I fought the blush. "B-besides…m-my father I-is a…hard w-worker, too."

Damn, that was stupid to say! Of course my father is a hard worker! He's the Hokage, for crying out loud! God, that was dumb!

She then flashed me that smile. The smile of hers that just radiates confidence and happiness. Now I'm going to be beet red, but when seeing that smile I really don't mind. It is in situations like this that the smile of hers becomes infectious.

We sit there for about an hour before I get the urge to talk to Mai-chan, who is busy using a nearby tree. It's strange to stay there and just sit. Okay…half the time I was watching Mai-chan train in wonder of her ever-happy and serious personality, even when she was punching a tree. Then, my mind went to something that I had been pondering for a while. Should I tell her my idea? I mean, after Shigeru she was probably the person I was friendliest with and I really didn't have an opportunity to speak with Shigeru at the moment…

To hell with it. I'll tell her my idea.

"Uh…M-Mai-chan…There is s-something I w-was trying t-to do…" I had managed to start. I know I shouldn't tell her about my blatant attempt at copying a taijutsu ability of the Hyuuga clan, and it's definitely going to be hard. Hell, even with all of her time in the Hyuuga family, my mother wasn't even able to get a handle on it. Only the greatest geniuses of the Hyuuga clan could learn it, like my grandfather Hiashi and my uncle Neji. Not to mention the fact that it was very clear that beyond the basics of the Jyuuken style I wasn't supposed to learn the more advanced techniques of the Hyuuga, seeing as I am "not a true Hyuuga," to use the words of one of the elders. I often agreed with what my father often said of the elders: they were all white-eyed bastards that had no right to be related to me and my mother.

I know that I was never going to be able to master it, but I wanted to imitate it using my Kage Bushin. Hell, I probably would only be able to imitate it, because it took so much skill. But somehow, I wanted to try. I wanted to create a variant of the Hakke Rokuju Yonsho.

"What is it, Satoshi-kun?" Mai-chan asked back.

"W-well…I…" I started.

Suddenly, there is a crack to the right of me and Mai-chan. I instantly turn to face it, snapping into the Jyuuken stance. I know Mai-chan is in her own stance. However, the threat isn't really a threat: It's just Shizuka-teme. Seeing as he's just standing there, I'm sure that the bastard would be looking sheepishly at us if his glasses weren't there. He makes his way over, scowls at me, then shoves his hands in his pockets and begins to look off into the distance. It's odd, seeing him like that. It's almost like he's…civil.

Once the bugs start buzzing, all thoughts on the idea came to an end. He was just too busy controlling his bugs to really pay attention to either of us. I see the bugs going this way and that, with their master just watching them go to and fro. Now Mai-chan goes back to her training, and I lose all desire to talk any more. I simply sit down at where I was, and wait for Konohamaru-sensei.

- - - - -

Okay…this is now getting annoying. I'm getting impatient (my I am half of my father, after all) and now I'm ready to bust Shizuka-temes head in. His is stalking from left to right in an impatient manner, and Mai-chan even stopped training to look around. I was about to begin looking when a sharp whistling sound started coming from somewhere nearby. Shizuka and Mai-chan both began searching for the source, which was growing louder and louder at each passing moment. I can't really figure out where it's coming from, but…it almost sounds like it's coming from…above us? I look up and I see what looks like an arrow coming into the clearing from above…

…and it's coming RIGHT AT ME!

I roll away as soon as I realize where the arrow is going to land, and no more then one second after I rolled the arrow stuck where I had just been sitting. After a few seconds (to catch my breath and allow the adrenaline to die down) Shizuka moves from where he was and grabs something off of the arrow itself. After shaking out the last of the adrenaline (and turning quite red when I see Mai-chan extremely close to me) I get up and look over the scroll itself.

_Team Five:_

_As you are to be a scout team, it is imperative that you know how to track enemy shinobi movements. Therefore, it is your job today to find me. However, there are some rules: no use of jutsu, kikai bugs, and/or kekkai genkai. If you are to succeed, you need to learn how to track without relying too heavily on your skills. Now, I have set up certain checkpoints in your way. When you reach these, you will find another note. I cannot stress the importance of these note or this test as a whole, as your whole career as genin depend on this. You have four hours to find me._

_Find me if you can._

_Konohamaru_

"Okay. I get it. We are supposed to find Konohamaru-sensei," Mai-chan said from her position beside me (oh crap! I didn't see her there!) as she reads the note herself. However, there is something bugging me. Other than the arrow and the note, what clue do we have as to where Konohamaru-sensei is? I look at where I had been sitting just a few seconds before, with the arrow imbedded in an odd way. It's what's known as a whistler arrow, judging by the odd contours and the many holes going down the sides of it. However, something is bugging me. It's the way that its sticking in the ground. At a specific angle. I know that whistler arrows don't fly that far compared with normal arrows because the holes allow air into them and slows the flight.

Okay, okay, I have to see the arrows direction, and I may be able to figure out where it was shot from. That could give us a idea as to where it was shot from. Now, judging by how it landed, it looks to have come from the north. Judging the angle, it was shot off...relatively far away. At best guess it came from…

"About thirty yards into the forest."

Huh? I turn to see Shizuka looking from the arrow to the woods, in the same direction I was looking before I had heard him speak. I turned to see him have a smirk on his face, looking straight at me.

"Looks like the genius wasn't able to figure it out first," Shizuka said arrogantly as he began walking towards the forest.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Aburame Shizuka is just as smart as I am. He was able to figure out the trajectory of the arrow at the same time as me. If he just wasn't so damn petty and irritating, he and I could have been good friends. Instead, he had to use me as one of his first guinea pigs for pranks. I normally don't hold grudges, but the bastard had no right!

"Come on, Mai-chan. Let's follow him," I said, surprised I was able to say anything without stuttering.

- - - - -

This has been the worst three hours of my life. I'm frustrated. Shizuka-teme is frustrated. Hell, even the ever positive Mai-chan is beginning to show her irritation at the whole situation. After tracking the arrow, we had managed to pick up on a trail and followed it for about an hour. After that hour, we had lost it and had gotten hopelessly lost thanks to Shizuka-teme, who was "certain" it was that way. So here we are, in the middle of a Kami-forsaken forest, like a bunch of fools! Now, we only have an hour to find Konohamaru-sensei, and we are getting nowhere fast!

In a flash, I catch a glimpse of something small and white in the trees I hadn't seen before in my glances upward. I then motion to Mai-chan, who's closest, who then responds by jumping into the tree and grabbing it. As she jumps down with a happy grin, she opens the scroll and begins reading it. After a few seconds, she smiled happily and began reading it aloud.

"Team Five: Since you are now reading the second scroll, be forewarned that it will get harder from here. Therefore, I am now allowing you to use your jutsu and kekkai genkai. Head back towards the training area and do not let this scroll get taken."

She smiled happily, but I was confused again. Don't let the scroll get taken? What did he mean by that?

Almost as an answer to my question there was a creaking in the trees. I turned, quickly activating my Byakugan and bringing my hands up into the Ram sign. Not surprising, there were three people in the trees. They had almost generic clothing on, but all of them were big. So this is what he meant by don't let the scroll get taken. I look to Mai-chan and to Shizuka, who simply nodded.

"Shizuka, we may not get along well, but we need to work together to pass this. Understand?" I said quietly, trying to bring about a truce to keep us from conflicting while this was going on. He simply nodded, and then I turned to face the three in the trees.

Time to go. Mai-chan was the first to act, rushing forward and throwing herself at the interlopers while I hear the fast buzzing of Shizukas bugs. I complete the Kage Bushin no Jutsu, and then all of my clones activate their Byakugan (Byakugans? I never really knew what to call it). I myself jump to Mai-chans aid as the three separate.

"We have to keep moving. The clones will distract them," I whisper to Mai-chan as she stops long enough to allow me to land nearby. After a few seconds, Shizuka jumps up as well, a smirk adorning his face. I follow his gaze to see the three people caught up in battle with my clones, and I take special notice at the nearest of the attackers, who seems to be covered in a swarm of bugs.

"That…was a bit easier then I thought it would be," Mai-chan declared as she saw one of the attackers get hit multiple times by the clones. I turn to nod when something hard hits my face, sending me off of the branch and my vision clouded by many bright flashes of red light. I could only curse myself for not activating the Byakugan myself as I fell further and further away from the branch. In an instant, my reflexes kick in and in a flash I land on my feet in a crouching position. I shake my head to clear the cobwebs, to see that there was a fourth attacker, one who now has Mai-chan by the throat with one hand and batting away Shizuka with another. As I activate my own Byakugan, I see that the three initial attackers were beginning to not only take out my clones, but had already taken the majority of them out.

Damn it! I should have seen this coming from a mile away! The three were simply stooges to give up our advantage while a fourth stayed back and watched for the three of us to let our guard down. I jump back upwards, fully intending to cook the bastards insides for laying a finger on Mai-chan. As I get within Jyuuken range, the bastard kicks me back and I'm caught in the grip of one of the attackers. I try to fight, fighting as hard as I can to release myself from the grip behind me. The bastard in the tree was tightening his grip around Mai-chans throat and Shizuka was fighting hard to get to me.

But, in the end, the grip tightened on me and regardless of the amount of thrashing I did, I really doubted I could get out.

"I've seen enough!" A deep, familiar and (I cringed at the last one) irritated voice called out from nearby. The attackers stop and all of them begin to waver…then suddenly, I'm staring at four clones of Konohamaru-sensei. I could only look down in shame when heavy footsteps made it to the small clearing where the fight had been.

"To think I expected so much out of the three of you! You spend an hour completely lost, and when the fight begins you don't stand up to more than half a minute before two of the team members are incapacitated (he looked at Mai-chan, who was now loose of the clones grip, and then he turns to me). All in all…it's pathetic," Konohamaru-sensei said, stern as any Hyuuga could be. I…I didn't…I couldn't…I couldn't become a ninja. I not only failed my family, but I also failed someone who was supposed to be important to me.

What's worse, all I could do was hang my head in despair.

"What, you're going to dismiss us like that? You're a damn fool, sensei."

My eyes instantly go from the ground to Shizuka. His face is forward and serious, much like many of the Aburame before him. But there was one major difference: the anger that he was feeling was rolling off of him, making it evident to all in the clearing.

"Think about it, sensei: it was the three of us who followed the arrow. It was the three of us, all at one time, when we had gotten lost. It was all of us, fighting as one."

"He is right, Konohamaru-sensei! We had all worked as a team, and had the unfortunate encounter of a group of shinobi more advanced than us attack us," Mai-chan said herself from her position.

I…how could they be so angry with Konohamaru-sensei. It was us who failed it…

It was I who failed it.

"And what about you, Satoshi-san?"

I kept my face down, to hide the pain in my eyes. I know the other two were willing to say thing like that in their own defense, but…but what could I say? I was supposed to be

"I…I f-failed, Konohamaru-sensei. I - I failed M-Mai-chan. I-I failed Shizuka-san. I-I failed this team. If you must…allow them to become shinobi. I…I am too much of a failure at this test to become one of true skill," I said, my eyes downcast. If there was to be a sacrifice here, don't let it be anyone but me. I was supposed to be a genius, but I failed my team in the stupidest of ways. It was only fitting.

Konohamaru-sensei began chuckling softly.

"Despite your problems together, all of you are willing to put aside your differences for the betterment of the team, skill beyond that of most genin your age anyway…not to mention the willingness to sacrifice oneself for the mission and for others. These are all admirable qualities, and I am certainly glad to see all of you possessing them in spades," Konohamaru-sensei said, a smile crossing his face.

I couldn't believe it. We had failed his test miserably! Why did he seem so happy?

"This was not a test of your fighting ability or your ability to talk to one another. It is a test to see if you could put aside differences, foolish thoughts, even petty rivalries aside for the team. As soon as Satoshi and Shizuka agreed to work together in the fight, I made my decision," Konohamaru-sensei said.

I still couldn't believe it.

"You pass!"

I can't believe it.

We passed.

We did it.

**END**

**A/N: **I have always considered fights to be my weak point in writing: I have often either written too much into it and killed the pace of the story, or they are abrupt and tedious, altogether weakening the story and killing the work I put into it. I hope this time I delivered!


	5. Past and Future

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Past and Future

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Five: Past and Future**

I really couldn't believe it. From what Konohamaru-sensei said after he confirmed us as shinobi, we were his third team, and we were the only team that didn't have the people in them turn in on themselves, blaming someone else on the team for the failure. Apparently, with our teams label as a heavy scout team, there was a good chance that we would come against a team more advanced then ours when in mission and have a higher chance of failure because of it. The second part of the test was a test of how we reacted in a situation when placed against a superior foe. Konohamaru-sensei was a man who was surprisingly wise for his age, much like my own father. I was still too stunned to go home, and there was someone who was closer who would be just as happy to find out.

The former Godaime Hokage herself.

As I came to the house, I saw the black hair of Shizune-san as she diligently worked in the small garden around the house. Ever since Tsunade-sama was crippled three years ago, Shizune-san had put in her resignation as a Konoha shinobi and watched over Tsunade-sama (or as my father calls her, "Tsunade-obachan") with Jiraiya-sama. When she saw me, she gave me a little wave before grimacing and turning on the weeds again with renewed vigor.

I'm a common sight here, often coming here for advice and for conversation with two people who I considered as much family as my mother and father.

As I walked into the main room of the house, I heard hoarse cursing from a nearby room, along with the clicking of wood on wood. This was a sign that Jiraiya-sama did something stupid or perverted (or a combination of both judging the amount of cursing and wood clicking) and now Tsunade was berating him for the said act. I slowly made my way to the location of the sounds, which I could tell was most likely from Tsunade-samas personal room. As I came around the corner, I saw the cause of the problem: a small orange book that was now lying forgotten near a broken table.

"Tsunade-sama, I didn't mean to…" came the hurried, almost worried voice of a man whose voice was well known to me. It was Jiraiya, the "Ero-sannin" as my father called him. I never knew why until I was seven, when I accidentally found a book that was penned by Jiraiya himself. I had excitedly picked it up, thinking it was a special book on ninjutsu, completely missing the bright red circle on the back. My father (having lost track of me for whatever reason) had only a seconds time to get to me and keep me from reading into the book. He chose that second to clip a carts wheel and tumble to the ground.

Let's just say I was disturbed at the graphicness of the book and my father was infuriated with both myself and Jiraiya.

"I can't believe it would be ero-sanins book to corrupt you so," my father had said as he pulled me away from that bookrack as I turned beet red.

The clicks continued, and with a swift movement a red-and-white blur came barreling down the corridor I was in. Just before it hit me, the blur stopped, showing me the aged face of Jiraiya. He cracked me a little smile before looking back and running off again. I didn't know why he ran until what looked like a heavy piece of furniture flew by my head and hit the blur, sending both the piece of furniture (it looked to be a chair) and Jiraiya through the door and into the yard.

"JIRAIYA, YOU DAMN PERVERT!"

I followed the voice to see the former Hokage herself. She didn't look her age of sixty-seven, thanks to the illusion she had on her. She looked to be in her mid thirties, but the way her eyes looked made it hard to believe she was that age. From what my dad told me, when he had first met her she looked to be in her twenties. With the thick wooded cane she carried, as well as the limp way her left leg hung, you could tell she was crippled.

I remember that day. Three of the members of the Akatsuki, a dangerous organization of S-class criminals, had come to Konoha looking for my father. Two of them, Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, directly confronted Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-san. In the fight, Tsunade was hit in the leg by the massive sword of the former, and with its ability to drain chakra she was unable to immediately heal. The depth of the wound was able to sever the nerves that connected the leg to the spinal column, and without the immediate healing of them, the wound became permanent. In a rage, Jiraya had come to Tsunades aid and summoned Gamabunta with the intent of crushing the sword swinging bastard.

The result: Kisame soup. Another member of the Akatsuki, Deidara, was also confirmed killed, my father killing him using his own jutsu to protect our family. The bastard, a master of clay, had been killed by the Tanshinkou no Jutsu, my fathers wind based creation that was more powerful then even the Rasengan.

I remember that the clay using bastard was dead set on killing my mother. When one of his clay bombs had come within striking distance of me and my mother when the yellow-topped flash of my father appeared, his eyes turning deep crimson and a sentence that was little more than a snarl escaped his lips. What he said that day has been burned into my memory, most likely for the rest of my life.

"You make another move against my wife and son, and I will TEAR YOU TO **PIECES!**"

Needless to say, Deidara ignored my fathers words and, after making a single move towards my Mother and I, my father buried the hand that encased the Tanshinkou into the mans stomach. Due to the high pressure of the winds and the amount of chakra from the Kyuubi, not much was left of Deidaras torso. My mother took that very moment to faint, and I was rather closer to it myself. I had just seen my father use the chakra of one of the most dangerous creatures in the world, and had just killed a man in front of me.

However, the tear-streaked face of my father once everything was said and done immediately washed away my fears. He had rushed over to me and had wrapped my and my mother in a hug that just screamed warmth and comfort. He had made sure that my sister was safe, and now that we were safe all was right with him. That helped me bear with what happened/

Uchiha Itachi? It was believed he was still alive.

Any who, I just had to smile at the ridiculous scene that was in front of me. After a loud grumble from Jiraiya-sama and the cooling of Tsunade-samas temper, I warmly smiled at the two. Even though the two were often at each others throats, they trusted each other completely and were willing to kill for one another. Kind of like the grandparents I never had.

"Satoshi? What brings you here? Aren't you supposed to be taking your genin exam?" Tsunade asked as she slowly made her way to the nearest chair and heavily sat down, resting her cane against the nearest wall. Jiraiya peeked in a little, but I saw Tsunade gave him a glare that made him slowly slink away and made a pathetic attempt to hide on the other side of the door he just flew through.

"Ano…actually…I came to tell you that…um…I passed," I said softly, happy that I didn't stutter at all. Then again, it's only around Mai-chan that I stutter. Especially when she has that smile…

"Oh ho ho, not only did it look like you passed, but you seem to be thinking about someone of the fairer sex," came Jiraiyas lecherous sounding voice from the doorway, which made me promptly turn bright red.

"No! It's…umm…it's not l-like that..Jir-" I started, but then I stopped when the perfect plan came into my head. It's something my dad did many times before to get back at Jiraiya, and with Tsunade-sama around it made it all the sweeter.

"It's not like what?" Jiraiya asked.

"It's not like when you peeked in the womans baths when Tsunade-sama was in them, _ero_-sannin!" I yelled, hoping against hope that Tsunade-sama had gone to the baths today. Seeing the way that Jiraiya paled after I said that made me smirk at Jiraiyas soon to be fate.

Bingo.

This "turn of events" resulted in the severe beating Jiraiya received at the hands of the hobbling ex-Hokage, getting punished in varying degrees by knotted wooden cane and chakra-enhanced fist. I smirked happily at what happened when suddenly I saw Tsunade-sama turn a murderous glare to me.

Oh crap.

By saying that, I was inviting what I know was going to happen next. I tried to shake my head in denial, but the throbbing vein in Tsunades head made me cringe, knowing that within a few seconds…

**WHAM!**

The bruise I received on the top of my head hurt, but was nowhere near the beating Jiraiya had just received.

"Now, interruptions from perverts aside," Tsunade said happily after one more pointed glare at Jiraiya and myself. "…tell me everything…"

- - - - -

I was at Tsunades house for nearly an hour and a half, talking about what had transpired earlier in the day and about Tsunades experiences when she was a genin (more the latter then the former) and specifically the type of test her teacher, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, had given them. I couldn't help but laugh at what had happened, but then I realized that my own father had been subjected to that test as well.

Wow, that must have been a pain in the ass.

I had made my final goodbyes and made my way to the small clan house of my family. It was nowhere near the size of the Hyuuga complex, but it felt more like a home then the massive cavern that the Hyuuga inhabited. Seeing the red symbol of the Uzumaki clan (the swirled shape of my fathers seal) on the sign at the fence, I knew I was almost there. I went through my houses small gate, through the small garden in front of my home and to the door. I pushed open the door and was about to announce my presence when I heard the light laughter of my mother. I quietly made my way through the entryway and to what amounted to the family room. I saw my mother and my father there, and by their closeness they were having a personal moment, something they weren't able to enjoy often because of their responsibilities. I turned my head just passed the end of the hall to see my mother and father holding each other on the couch. Both had smiles on their faces, and they were paying attention only to the other.

Wow. My mom and dad really were perfect for one another.

"So, how do you think Satoshi did?" my mother asked quietly, nervousness tainting her voice. I smiled a little at her worry, especially when it had been nearly three hours since the end of the test and my acceptance as a genin.

"I don't think you should worry so much, Hinata. After all, he is your son," my father said as he stroked the back of moms' neck. She began blushing slightly, before she smiled at my father and then turned so she was now lying down with her head in his lap, looking up. My father stroked the side of her face softly, bringing a giggle from my mother as she grabbed his hand. Now I had to look away. This was certainly a "personal moment" and I really couldn't just stand there now. I turned and walked away when my mother let out another giggle. I turned back around quickly to see my father smiling down at my mother, then after a second began laughing slightly. My mother looked up, confused for a second. I was a bit confused myself.

"Besides, I think you should ask him yourself. Come on out, Satoshi," My father said as he looked up. I could only stare at the man who was my father in awe as I walked around the final part of the entrance corridor. I had sworn I hadn't made a sound when I came in or when I had turned to leave, but by the surprised look on my mothers face, it seemed like I hadn't. But then again, my mother does have some trouble concentrating when my father is around, much in the same way I don't think right with Mai-chan around. My mother sat up then turned and smiled at me.

"I didn't hear you come in, Satoshi. How did you do?" my mother asked as she sat up, looking from my father to me.

"Well, I have some good news. I…made it. I am now a full fledged shinobi of Konoha," I said excitedly, not knowing what was going to happen. Well, actually, give them a second to absorb what I just said, and in a few seconds my father will jump up with a whoop and…

My father jumped up, let out a large whoop in happiness, and then rushed forward as a yellow topped blur as he wrapped me up in his large, muscular arms almost breaking my back. I gasp at the quick (and undeniably) motion, and almost on cue my father loosened up his grip and my mother joined us, her eyes watering and a big smile on her face.

Yep, it was certainly good to be an Uzumaki.

- - - - -

Well, my father warned me about the boredom and tediousness of D-ranked missions. I ad always thought they really couldn't be all that bad. I mean, walking dogs, playing traffic cop, playing Go with old men, what could be bad about that? It seemed to be the perfect cure for the amount of stress that the exams had given the team.

Boy…was I wrong.

By mission number eight, I was getting bored and annoyed with the whole situation. We had spent the whole of the Academy honing our skills to mold chakra and use jutsus just to pull weeds and catch rambunctious raccoons? This really was pathetic. I mean, we were a team that, despite some issues (Shizuka had oh so _graciously_ reminded me of this fact when he had snuck a kikai bug into my bento after mission number four. I got him back by managing to sneak up on him when he was about to grab the aforementioned raccoon and "accidentally" knocking him off of the branch), had managed to prove itself more then capable to be able to act as a team and showed skill beyond the normal genin team that passed (hopefully that wouldn't be the case this year, though) and yet were still doing horribly stupid missions.

Shizuka complaining certainly wasn't helping it either.

"We damn well better get a good mission this time," Shizuka muttered under his breath as we had walked to the Missions room to get our eighth mission. I could only shake my head exasperated at the gaul of the bug-using fool. This was the fourth time today that he said something about it. At least this time he had kept the volume down.

"Do not worry, Aburame-san. I am sure we will get a more interesting assignment today," Mai-chan said in a not-so-exuberant way. I could only smile lightly at how she said it: even the lovely Rock Mai had her limits when it comes to boredom.

Konohamaru-sensei silenced us all as we had gotten to the main room, showing the stern face of Udon-sensei and the rather impassive face of the Shichidaime Hokage. Every time I see my father that way I get chills, but whenever he isn't the normally bright and happy man I knew most of my life it can't be described as anything but unsettling.

"Well, I see that Team Konohamaru has shown up. I have to tell you that there has been a request for a mission, asking directly for you team by name," Udon-sensei said as my father just stared at the team with what looked to be no emotion. I shifted uncomfortably under the gaze when I saw a twinkle in my fathers eye. I just looked at him curiously when he slowly shifted his gaze to Konohamaru-sensei, who was curiously going to the table with the mission scrolls on them. After a few seconds of opening the scroll and reading it, Konohamaru-sensei turned to my Father with a smile on his face.

"Are you kidding me? This is my teams' mission?" Konohamaru-sensei said incredulously. My father nodded with a sly smile on his face. I could only watch curiously at the spectacle before me. My father did something that he knew Konohamaru-sensei would like, but what exactly had just transpired?

"Okay, Team Five, we are to go to the Sarutobi family house to help a pregnant woman with her chores," Konohamaru-sensei said. Shizuka groaned loudly, but I couldn't help but notice the lingering smile on his face. The Sarutobi family wasn't all that big. They had Asuma, the family head, and about half a dozen small families tied to them, almost all through marriage. Who would he be talking about?

This thought was bouncing around my mind as we got to the way to the Sarutobi family house. We had gotten through the main doors and had reached the main doors when we heard what sounded like fighting. I was about to say something when I saw Konohamaru-senseis face become strained. Just by seeing that, it seems to be a personal matter, and something I really don't want to be involved with. The stupidity of dealing with the stupidity of others, especially with the implications of involving the son of a high ranking ANBU or in my case now the Hokage, would get too complicated and confusing.

If I was a psychologist, it may have been the time at which I would have begun down the path of introversion and shyness.

Konohamaru-senseis face slowly began brightening as we had moved closer and closer to the room given. I could only watch what was going on as we had made it to the room, and by reading the first kanjis I saw something that surprised me. They read "Sarutobi Konohamaru." There was more, but I missed most of them as Konohamaru literally pushed the team into room.

"Team Five arriving for the mission, ma'am," Konohamaru-sensei said as he looked around with that large smile on his face. After a few seconds, an auburn-haired woman with deep red cheeks came out of a side room, looking almost distracted. After a few seconds, she straightened her clothes and smiled, most of that smile going to Konohamaru-sensei. She was also noticeably pregnant. Not "bump of the belly" pregnant. She was "about to pop any second" pregnant.

"Everyone, I'd like to you to meet Sarutobi Moegi."

**END**

**A/N:** Well, sorry for the long wait, but with the first week of school and the increased hours at work it translates into one thing: delays between chapters. Its sucks major ass, but in the end I do have to give real life a go before I can come here and play.

Damnable schoolwork!


	6. Undercurrents

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Undercurrents

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Note: **If you don't realize where I get the first part of the story from (the part involving Moegi), you do not deserve to be a damn anime fan!

**Chapter Six: Undercurrents**

The day spent with Konohamaru-senseis wife was relaxing, to say the least. Although we were required to do some of the more strenuous chores (which Shizuka and I somehow got heaped onto us thanks to Moegi-san taking up so much of Mai-chans time), we were for the most part able to enjoy ourselves.

Well, so long as we weren't in the same room with Konohamaru-sensei and Moegi-san. The way the two would hold one another, the way they would kiss, the way they would look at one another, drinking each other in with their eyes, then turn to look at Moegi-sans stomach, do…well, ANYTHING with such a gusto that would make anyone watching blush. I should know: as soon as I saw the two in a rather ahem intimate moment (involving tongues) immediately after we had started, I had to look away. Even then, I couldn't help but think of Mai-chan.

"Jeez, aren't they supposed to be the adults here?" Shizuka said annoyed as he quickly turned his head away from Konohamaru-sensei, who (guessing by Shizukas reaction) was with Moegi-san. I could only sympathize with Shizuka right now. After what I had witnessed with our sensei and his wife, it would make anyone balk under that kind of uncomfortable scene.

Wait a second. Did I just say I _sympathize_ with Shizuka, that irritating bastard? Mai-chan, maybe, but not Shizuka.

One person, however, was not exactly balking at seeing our sensei stick his tongue down his wifes' throat.

"This must be the power of youth my father talks about. Don't you think so, Satoshi-kun?" Mai-chan asks me. I smile at her, and I find it kind of funny that the normal blush. I turn and flash her a smile. After a second, my confidence is enough for me to move forward, bring her face to face. After a second, I begin moving forward, my lips pursed and ready to kiss…

"…don't you think so, Satoshi-kun?"

Wait. WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT! Did that whole thing happen in my head? Crap crap crap! It was all in my head! Nothing more!

"I…uh…I…g-guess s-so….M-Mai-chan." Again with the cursed stuttering!

"I think it is so romantic…" Mai-chan said.

I could only squawk at the thought. How could she even think that seeing that would be romantic? I could only look at her with surprise, and at the way she almost lovingly looked from Konohamaru-sensei to Moegi-san. Would that mean…would that mean that she has kissed anyone like that and enjoyed it? If she hadn't, why is it so damn romantic? I could only stare at her, until she turns to face me and looks almost surprised. After a few seconds, her face softens and looks almost understanding.

Am I hopelessly confused right now? Hell yes.

"Oh…I can see where you are confused. I do not mean that French kissing in that manner. Although Moegi-san says that it is most enjoyable (it almost looks like Mai-chan is growing red), it is not because of that that their love is so romantic. It's the amount of passion they show, from the way to look at each other to the way Konohamaru-sensei kisses Moegi-san," Mai-chan says almost sagely, while still looking at the two before Moegi-san breaks the kiss and walks towards the small kitchen. I could only smile at Mai-chans intelligence and reasoning. It made perfect sense, seeing as her father is an advocate of putting all you have into whatever you do, be it training, politics, or love itself.

"How does tea sound, everyone?" Moegi asks from the kitchen. After three unanimous yeses from the three genins, she looks to Konohamaru, who nods. Once she disappears, Konohamaru-sensei moved to the small couch the room had. I could easily make out the large smile on Konohamaru-senseis as he sits down, with his hands on the back of his head. After a few seconds, I could hear the clinking of teacups and the pouring of liquid.

Suddenly, there is a loud crash in the kitchen, followed by a distressed moan from Moegi.

Konohamaru-sensei is the first up, darting to the kitchen. However, he looks to slip on something and stumbles to the ground. The three of us are next, with me being the closest. I see Moegi-san, looking almost like she's concentrating. She looked to be making tea for us, but now it looks discarded on the floor where Konohamaru-sensei slipped. However, when I look downwards to make sure I don't slip on the spilled tea, I see something odd. Although the floor is slick with the spilled tea, it also looks like there was water directly under Moegi-san. I look up at Moegi-san, then to the floor again. Realization hits me, and I go pale.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what just happened.

"It…it's time…" Moegi-san says through what sounds like a fair bit of pain. Konohamaru-sensei slowly gets up from his position holding his head. As he's getting up, he seems almost confused by the statement.

"For what, the tea…oh…" Konohamaru-sensei begins, but once realization hits him his voice stops. Moegi-san glares at Konohamaru-sensei. Seconds later and with the same wide-eyed realization, Konohamaru-sensei disappears as a blur, the door swinging violently as said sensei leaves the room.

"Well, don't just stand there gawking! Help me!" Moegi-san yells at all of us. Mai-chan is the first to move, getting behind Moegi-san to help her keep her balance. After a few moments, Shizuka and I grabbed one of her arms and slowly had her make her way to the couch of the main room. As she lay down, she let out another distressed moan.

"Do you know what to do?" Shizuka hissed under his breath to me as he put a pillow under Moegi-sans head. I shook my head almost violently at the thought. Why would he ask me?

"Why would you ask that?" I responded.

"Well, you do have a younger sister. Don't you know how to deal with a pregnant woman?"

"I was four!"

Another moan later, and all of us were scrambling to find ways of making her comfortable. Mai-chan got Moegi-san a blanket to keep the pregnant woman warm, I got some cool water on a rag to keep her head cool, and Shizuka...well, Shizuka got a tub of water.

"What is that for?" Mai-chan asked.

"It's warm water. Y'know, just in case she pops…"Shizuka started.

"Stop talking about me like I'm a BALLOON!" Moegi-san screeches before she reaches out and grips my hand. After a second, she tightens her hands around mine to the point I begin whimpering. Even when she relaxes, I could grimace at the amount of strength the woman could produce. It's only when the door shoots open again does my salvation come in the form of Konohamaru-sensei and a medic Nin.

"Team Five, out of this room NOW!"

We were happy to oblige the request, as all three of us were essentially pushed out of the room by our sensei anyway. But, with the final push (the door slamming shut), Shizuka barreled into my back, which pitched me forward into Mai-chan. This chain reaction knocked us all to the ground in a chaotic whirlwind that had me hit my head on the hard wooden floor, making me instinctively close my eyes.

As soon as the dust settled, I could feel Shizuka starting to get off of me. As I got up, I used my left hand to hold onto my forehead as my right reached for the ground, trying to hold myself steady. My head was hurting, and as I opened my eyes my sight was rather blurry. I shook my head as my hand grabbed something rather soft. I was confused at first. What was soft on the floor my head had just collided with?

As my vision cleared, I saw a situation that would normally be reserved for either bad situational comedies or (in a more erotic sense) in my deepest dream. I was right on top of Mai-chan, with my legs between hers and in a rather…uh…intimate position. That alone would have been embarrassing enough, but then my eyes trailed to where my hand had landed.

It was lying squarely atop one of Mai-chans breasts.

In my head, there's a part of my brain that's going, "Oh, that's what was so soft."

As soon as I saw this, I jumped up and began sputtering; trying to find some kind of way to apologize for what had just happened. However, squawks were no use in this situation: Mai-chan was furious at what had just happened. The way she was glaring at me was clue enough. I had only seen a glare like that from one person in my life: Tsunade, whenever Jiraiya acted (or was accused of acting) perverted while around her.

"Satoshi…you PERVERT!"

I could only brace myself as a fist went crashing into my face, and I painfully flew backwards into Shizuka. After a few seconds (and a swelling bruise), I opened my eyes to see a glaring Mai-chan, her face red with anger. I glanced back to see Shizukas shocked face. Evens he's surprised by the outburst. All I could do is stammer at the fury before another voice, this time from another area of the house, stopped the whole uncomfortable situation.

"I have told you before, it not that damn important!"

The three of us stop our bickering when we see the patriarch of the Sarutobi family, Sarutobi, Asuma, being flanked by another man. Both are stopped at a nearby junction of the hallway. By both of the mans looks, he seemed to be a Sarutobi as well. Both seemed agitated.

"But, Asuma-sama, even Konohamaru-sama impregnated his wife and his having his child right now. If you are to reconsider your infertile wife…," the smaller man said, almost in a supporting way.

The killer intent that now radiated from Sarutobi-san was almost palpable as the younger man stopped in his tracks.

"You better leave Kurenai out of this conversation, Eiji, or you will find yourself without a clan," Asuma said without even turning to face the offender. The younger man visibly flinches at the cold response of the older man, and as Asuma continues on his way the younger man looks down. Now that I look, he really isn't that young, but definitely younger than Asuma-san. He shook his head and turned towards the three of us. I know that we must be a mess to look at. His eyes drift from Mai-chan, to Shizuka, and to me…

His eyes instantly darken.

I know that look. It's the look that my father sometimes gets from those who are not his supporters. From people who still consider my father little more then a demon. It is a gaze that I have seen many times…the one that I originally broke under…

_Flashback_

"_First day of school… first day of school…first day of school!" I happily sang to myself as I made my way to the now famous (well, in my mind) ninja academy. In four years, I'll be outta here. Hell, maybe even before that, assuming that what everyone says about me being smart is true. I'd just have to see for sure. I know that my grandpa Iruka was a teacher here at one time, and now that I'm going I hope that all my teachers are like him._

_I make my way through the school yard. I know I'm early. I wanna make a good impression on the teachers and this seems to be the best way to do it. I had to see my teachers and see what was going to happen on my first day._

_I was about halfway to the academy when I noticed a gaggle of men talking amiably to one another. As I walked by the group, they noticeably quieted and began whispering to one another as I walked by. I smiled at them, but the group sent me glares that made my blood cool a little bit._

_It was safe to say I wasn't going to be humming under my breath for the rest of the way._

_- - - - -_

_My day was certainly odd. I met a whole bunch of people (some girl named Satoko stared at me the whole day), and one of them was the daughter of my dads friend, Rock Lee. She was dressed in all green and I probably lump her into the category of weird if I already didn't know about her fathers…em…oddities. She was friendly enough, and to be honest…she was cute._

_As I was coming home, I replayed the whole days events through my head. Seeing how many times the girls got giggly and acted altogether stupid meant I was gonna be the "heartthrob" of the class, as my aunt Sakura had called my uncle Sasuke. They had to just stare at me…I don't even know how to react to that kind of attention._

_As I mull around in my thoughts, I fail to notice the same men that had glared at me earlier that day. I missed the way they had looked between themselves and made their way behind me without me noticing. I didn't even notice when one of them had gotten up and charged at me with a massive iron rod until I saw the shadow and he screamed at the top of his lungs "Die you demon-tainted filth!"_

_I don't even know how I survived that day._

_End Flashback_

It was that day that I began retreating into my shell of shyness and timidness. It was then that I began turning inwards…and now I began to breathe erratically, as the attention began to push me into panic attack mode. I bring my hands in front of me, trying to defend myself from the glare. I know that the room seems to be blurring, but one person seems to not blur. That mans glare. It never stops…even as I fall backwards, still conscious, my eyes staring right back at the daggers within the mans eyes.

I probably would have blacked out right there, if it wasn't for something that knocked me out of it.

"Satoshi-teme, what the HELL are you doing!"

It was Shizukas demanding voice, sounding almost shrill. In an instant, my eyes cleared and my breathing regulated. I look from Shizuka (who's wearing an annoyed grimace on his face) to Mai-chan (who looked confused and concerned) and now to the man who was the source of the whole damn thing. I got up, keeping my eyes down as I silently activated my Byakugan. It's not only my mother blood that runs in my veins…and now that blood is boiling.

"What the HELL are you staring at, baka?" I demanded as I stared the guy down with my best impression of my uncle Nejis Byakugan Staredown (Uncle Neji hates it when my father calls it that) at the bastard.

My focus, despite my Byakugan, was so on the man that I almost didn't see the hand coming to rest on my shoulder. I turned my head slightly to see that it was Konohamaru-sensei. His eyes were square on this Eiji character, and by the way he was glaring, he wasn't happy either. After a few tense moments, Eiji wordlessly bowed curtly (it looked more forced then genuine) and walked away.

After a few moments, Konohamaru-senseis face softened. I deactivated my Byakugan and turned to face him, a smile gracing both of our faces. He led us back into the room, but not before I saw Mai-chan look at me in a way I really couldn't describe. She looked almost like she was about to cry, but she was smiling happily the whole time.

"Pardon all, but there's someone I'd like you to meet," Moegi-san said, her voice sounding like someone who had just gone through a whole fight. However, there was a smile on her worn-looking face. In her hands was a small pink bundle, which she held close to her.

"I'd like you to meet Sarutobi Ayane."

- - - - -

"Well, I heard of your little...misadventure today, Konohamaru," my father said in an amused voice as we had gotten in that day to report the mission.

"Although I must congratulate you on your newfound…fatherhood, I must say that this mission went above and beyond what most genin have to deal with. Therefore, I have a little surprise for your team…" my father continued as he reached to another scroll on the table, the whole time his eyes flitting from Konohamaru to the three of Team Five.

"Therefore, I will see that your next mission will be a…special one. Team Fives next mission will be…a C-rank mission."

**END**

**A/N:** Well, another chapter down. Like I said at the beginning: if ANYONE reading this doesn't see where I got the scene with Moegi, they are not worthy of watching Anime. If at first you don't realize…or you're maybe a little slow…(hopefully the former then the latter) think Maes Hughes wife…and the situation in which his daughter was born…then you'll know where it comes from.

Yay happy birthings!


	7. The Mission

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** The Mission

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Seven: The Mission**

Ichirakus Ramen Shop. It's probably the best place to go for a lunch after a mission. At least, in my opinion. After Team Five had split, I had made my way to what had to be one of my favorite places to eat. It's something that I had inherited from my father: the love of ramen and a nearly bottomless stomach.

If you ever go to Konoha, order the miso ramen. It's delicious.

"I was sure I'd see you here today," a familiar voice said from behind me.

I don't even turn as my father took a seat next to mine, and without a word the cook was off to make some ramen. I smiled as two more seats were taken. My mother and my sister had taken their places, with my mother on the other side of my father and my sister next to me.

"Nii-nii, is it true you helped a woman have a baby?" Rika, my eight year old sister, excitedly asked as I slurped some more ramen down my mouth. Unable to answer without spewing food all over Rika, I nodded. Rikas eyes grew into the eyes of saucers as she looked at me with utter adoration.

Oddly, this reminded me (at least slightly) of the look that Mai-chan gave me earlier when I stared down the bastard Sarutobi. Of course, this didn't make any sense. Mai-chan was someone who wore her heart on her sleeve, but she had never seen me as anything more then a friend…or an "eternal rival."

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

"Are you nervous, Satoshi?" came my mothers voice from the other side of my father. Again, with my mouth full of food (when I eat ramen, my mouth is constantly stuffed if I don't talk. Which, knowing me, was nearly all the time. Damn cowardly behavior), I nodded, my eyes looking at my bowl intently. I know that I should say something…to look up and ask them what it was like with their first C-ranks…

To hell with it. I slurped up the ramen as quickly as I could, and once it was chewed and down my throat I turned to my father.

"Ano….what was your first C-rank mission like?" I asked, looking to my father. He sighed softly, then turned towards me with a rather serious look on his face.

"My first C-rank mission was a bit…different than most. We were the bodyguards of Tazuna, a bridge builder. With Kakashi-sensei, your Uncle Sasuke, your Aunt Sakura, and I were dragged into something bigger than just bodyguard work. We had to fight a big brute named Zabuza who was able to match Kakashi-sensei and a weird guy named Haku, who had a Kekkai Genkai that could control water. This wasn't a normal mission of that, like what yours would be," my dad said, his face lightening up as he began slurping on his ramen again, although a look from my mom quieted him somewhat.

I was about to respond, when an all too familiar voice from behind us called to us.

"Somehow I _knew_ we would find you here."

I turned to see what amounted to my extended family. At the front is the raven haired, dark eyed Uchiha who was essentially my uncle smiling (most would think he was smirking, but I know my Uncle Sasuke better) at my family. On his left was my Aunt Sakura, her pink hair short and her green eyes shining. In front of them was my purple haired cousin Kasumi, who had graduated the year before as a member of a scout team, and my black haired cousin Sogetsu, who was blushing slightly.

"Hello…Rika-chan…" Sogetsu started.

"Heya, Soge-kun! How are ya!" Rika chirped happily from her position. I smiled at my older cousin, who simply nodded back.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Sasuke-teme…" my father said non-chalantly. I winced at the curse, knowing what was happening next.

"Naruto, you should say such things in front of our children!" my mother said in a voice that was soft, but it carried enough of a weight to stop my father in his tracks. In fact, just about everything within a block radius seemed to quiet as those words were spoken.

"Looks like you won't have to beat his head in, Sakura," Uncle Sasuke said, his voice breaking the silence and showed his obvious amusement as my Aunt Sakura giggled.

"Hey, Hinata, you'll have to teach me how to do that!" Aunt Sakura said as she smiled a sweet smile, hiding her mostly devious reasoning. Uncle Sasukes face fell a little, before taking on the stony countenance that my Uncle was famous for now. Knowing my Uncle Sasuke, he was going to something that was petty and strange, but altogether romantic in response to the statement, despite the apparent shock and disappointment at the remark.

If only I had so much courage…or inventiveness…

"Hey, kiddo, how are you doing?" came the forceful voice of my older cousin Kasumi. I smiled, seeing my cousin. She was certainly someone who I was close with. Hell, she and I had spent so much time together that we may well could have been brother and sister. But, she was born early enough in the year to actually attend the Academy the year before me. She had been teamed up with Inuzuka Koga and Hyuuga Hizashi, my blood cousin from my mothers' side of the family. Granted I didn't know him that well, but…

"I'm good, Kasumi. How are you? How are your teammates?" I asked as I again dug into the ramen in front of me. I noted that I was running low, and I wasn't full yet. I was probably going to order another bowl.

"Well, Hizashi is a boring stick in the mud and Koga…well, Koga is a pain…" she said, her voice softening slightly. So, judging by the inflection in her voice and just how she said it, I'm guessing that despite their flaws she cared for her teammates…and the Inuzuka boy in particular. I could be wrong, but with the subtleties I had my suspicions.

My youngest cousin, Sogetsu, wasn't as subtle.

"Well, Rika-chan, looks like we're going to be classmates…" Sogetsu said shyly as he began turning a bit red. I smiled to Kasumi, who grinned mischievously back at me.

"Yep! And I betcha anything I'll be the prettiest kunoichi there! Me, Uzumaki Rika!" my sister proudly declared as she winked at the younger Uchiha. The Sogetsu immediately turned a bright red, then in a blink of the eye turned and ran off. After a few seconds (most likely to allow what had happened to register) two things happened:

One: Uncle Sasuke groaned loudly at his sons' antics.

Two: My father fell off of his stool in a loud fit of laughter, accidentally spilling ramen on his robes while falling to the ground.

"A kunoichi after my own heart!" Aunt Sakura said as she ruffled the hair of my younger sister. Rika, however, didn't get what had just happened.

"Why did Soge-kun run off like that?"

- - - - -

Here it was. The big day that was to be my first C-class mission. I was certainly glad, and certainly a bit nervous. Well, maybe that was an understatement. I had been so nervous that the night before the mission I had gotten almost no sleep. I had gotten up half an hour before the alarm even rang, and I was dead tired. I had made it to the meeting place almost one and a half hours before time, and I had initially thought I was alone. That is, until I saw the Aburame clan trench coat in the distance.

Great. Shizuka-teme got here even before I did. I sat down near the tree that Shizuka had decided to stand by. However, something immediately seemed off as I began getting comfortable. Shizuka was really quiet. Well, way too quiet for that idiot. I had looked at the back of the trench coat…and the bastard didn't even budge. After staring (okay, well glaring, really) at the back of it, I immediately got up. This guy was irritating me to the last nerve…and now it was time to get the guys attention.

"Shizuka."

Nothing. I grumbled a little bit at the lack of attention the guy gave me.

"Shizuka," I said louder, trying to get his attention. Nothing.

Now my blood was starting to boil! This jackass was ignoring me and now my fathers' blood was boiling in me. In a quick motion, I cleared the distance between the two of us and decided to give him a more direct way of getting his attention.

"Shizuka-teme, what the…hell?!?"

As I reached for the trench coat, I could only blanch as Shizuka seemed to vanish and in his place was a mass of bugs, which, almost like under an unseen command, began crawling and buzzing towards me in a flash. As I jumped away, I heard the rambunctious cackling of the bastard who just set me up. I look up to the tree where the bastard is now hooting and laughing like he had just made the best possible joke. I glare at the bastard, then in an instant I feel my Byakugan flash to life and I ready myself for an attack.

"I have HAD it with your petty crap!" I said angrily, making my voice as loud as I could. Shizukas cackling laughter stopped, and he seemed to have adopted the rigid stoicness of the Aburame. He jumped down from the branch unusually quiet and his hands stuck in his pockets. When he was like this, he looked eerily like his quiet father.

If only he was like that ALL the time.

"That is ENOUGH!" came a voice from the other end of the clearing. I turn to see a series of rather underdeveloped chakra coils moving in at a high speed. After a second, the blur cleared to become Mai-chan. I immediately dropped my Byakugan and looked down. I was burning with embarrassment. I know I'm not supposed to fight with other shinobi…

I should have known better!

"Are the two of you done with your little ego-fest? Because this is certainly _beneficial_ to our team," Mai said, her voice tainted with sarcasm. I instantly flinched, knowing that when Mai-chan became sarcastic, she was damn near ready to draw blood. I tried to make words, but as soon as she shifted her glare back to me, I could only indignantly squawk at the look.

"Well, looks like the little Mai here has a temper," came a voice from the other side of the clearing. All the anger flowing from Mai-chan stopped as all attention when to the chuckling Konohamaru-sensei, chuckling as he unconsciously scratched his beard. It's odd how much he looks like Asuma-san, his uncle, right now. After a few seconds, Konohamaru-sensei walked towards us at a leisurely pace, his hands stuck in his pockets.

"Well, I'm glad to see there is some fire in this team, although…" Konohamaru-sensei said, his gaze going from Shizuka and myself. I instantly looked down.

"…it is a _bit _misdirected. Well, it's time to get to the Hokages Tower. I hope your completely packed and ready to go," Konohamaru-sensei said as his attention turned away. Mai walked off right behind him, her anger more then evident as she looked over her shoulder to Shizuka and myself.

Shizuka used this opportunity to give me and inappropriate hand gesture before following suite.

Great. Just great. Mai-chan hates me for acting like an idiot, Shizuka-teme is as annoying as ever, and Konohamaru-sensei doesn't have a clue.

Sometimes I think I'm just naturally unlucky.

- - - - -

Here we go.

Konohamaru-sensei reached the door of the Hokage tower, and as we enter and follow those familiar stars to the Missions Room, I feel my chest tightening. I had been out of Konohagakure many times with my family, often to meet the Godaime Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara, or to attend the various Chunin Exams. However, it was often under the guard of several ANBU (often led by my Uncle Sasuke himself) or even with Jiraiya-san. It was never just me as the defender. Now I had to take care of myself and my teammates and should anything happen to them, it's my responsibility.

Hell, it's more than my responsibility. Because of the weight of my name and my "genius", I have to make damn sure that we get back unharmed or I somehow let down my team, my family name, and my status as a genius.

Being a "genius" really sucks.

As we come to the door of the Missions, my heart begins racing. What if I screw up? What if something attacks us, or were given a mission that is secretly beyond our skill? What could I do?

As these terrifying thoughts raced through my head, the doors parted and I forcibly quelled my rebelling stomach, which wanted to wrap and knot in many different ways, all of which wanted me to end up doubled over and emptying the contents of my stomach all over the floor. But I forcefully quelled my rebelling stomach again and walked through the main door of the mission room, where I saw my father with a somber expression I have never seen on him before. He looked far more serious than I have ever seen him.

And he was about to speak.

"Team Five. You are going to go on your assigned mission. According to the mission ranking system, this is considered a C-rank mission. Your mission is to go to Kusagakure no Sato to deliver a message to the leader of the Kusa-nin, a man who calls himself the Kusakage. He has been expecting this scroll promptly, so you are to depart tomorrow morning," my father said, his hand intertwined in a way that I had never really seen before. His eyes were slits, and if I didn't know better I would have thought he was meditating.

"Because this mission requires you to leave the confines of Konohagakure, there is an increased chance that you could be attacked by thieves and highwaymen. These kinds of mission are far more dangerous than the D-Rank missions your team has been on before. There is an increased risk for this. Do all of you understand?"

These words simply worked on my fears again. My fathers words were eating away at my guts when I looked to Mai-chan. Her face simply said one thing.

Determination.

It was this determination that awoke something in me. The old me, the one who may have been a little shy, but hated to back down from any kind of challenge. The Uzumaki Satoshi that somehow mastered the basics of the Jyuuken fighting style at the age of seven. The Uzumaki Satoshi who somehow managed to learn the powerful and demanding Kage Bushin no Jutsu at the age of Nine.

Uzumaki Satoshi is BACK!

"Do you all understand?"

Of course I did. Now I felt like I could take on the world!

Sort of.

**END**

**A/N: **Finally I'm able to get enough time to get the next chapter up of Legends of the Past! Give me a little bit, and I'll be able to get the next Storm chapter up soon.

Note: Crap crap crap! I made a big booboo, found by one of my reviewers. I said Kumogakure…but I meant Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass!

Sorry!


	8. The Start

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** The Start

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Eight: The Start**

My younger sister, Uzumaki Rika, has the look, build, and personality of my father. She has bright blond hair, tanned skin, and a rather stout build. The only hint that she was of any relation to my mother or I are her eyes: they are the same milky blue as my own. They are a hint of the power of the Byakugan in her blood, but there has been one major issue: no matter how hard she tries, she has never been able to activate it. And thus come the more interesting aspects of her personality, again deeply rooted into her from our father: the amazing ability to spout out inappropriate words at a moments notice if she becomes even the slightest bit frustrated.

It may be one thing to cuss out someones brother (I had been on the receiving end of this multiple times), but nothing is truly as horrifying to see an eight year old cussing in front of the Kazekage. Gaara-sama seemed almost amused, but my father had been so furious and had promised that she would be severely punished at her "inappropriate words" in front of such an important man.

She had spent the next month cleaning up at Ichirakus after school, whenever our Father was going their to eat. He made sure he was extra messy, and Ayame-san and Haruhi-san made sure Rika cleaned up every bit. She had cursed Dad, Ichirakus, and ramen all on the first day.

Well, as I am trying to get some last minute training from my mother on the ways of the Jyuuken, Rika is trying some hand signs, in hopes that it will activate her dormant Byakugan. And, without mincing words, it is fairly clear to say that she is wholeheartedly lacking in patience as she starts ranting, and I know eventually it will end in…

"ARGH! Why can't I get it? This is bull shit!"

Well, let's just call them "colorful metaphors."

"Rika! What have I said about using that language!"

My mothers stern voice from behind me, and by the tone she wasn't happy at all. Rika instantly quieted, turning her attention away. She began blabbering incoherently as the disapproving glare of my mother. It was the same trick she used on my father. Uzumaki Hinata may not be the loudest woman alive, but now when she's angry, she knows how to show it, and in a way to make even the Shichidaime Hokage freeze in fear. From what I have heard from my Uncle Sasuke and Aunt Sakura, she was at one time hopelessly quiet and shy.

It's an amazing change, I'd say. Before she began her relationship with my father, she could barely become louder than a mouse, and yet now she can stop the awe-inspiring Shichidaime Hokage, the Clone Master of Konoha, in his tracks.

"Uh…Mom…"

"Yes, sorry, Satoshi. If your sister would learn how to hold her tongue, perhaps we could start your training," my mother said as she glared at my sister. Rika let out a small "meep" and disappeared in a flash, before she turned back to me with a small smile on her face.

"She is so much like him…"

In a second, her attention turned back to me and moved into the Jyuuken fighting stance. I followed suit, but I know I could not match my mother. She was a Tobuketsu Jounin, and had many skills beyond most normal jounin to begin with. But, this was to help me with my training. After all, I may know a lot of the basics of the Jyuuken, but she and Uncle Neji are obviously more skilled than me. To become the best, you must train with the best, and I intend to at least give my all and try to live up to that reputation.

My mother slides almost effortlessly into the standard Jyuuken stance, while I settle into a defensive one. In a flash, she rushes forward and in a second I'm pushed on the defensive.

It may be hard, but to get better sometimes I have to take a bit of a beating.

- - - - -

Well, it was the big day. I know that my father would be gone today. He was planning on meeting with the Mizukage, so he would be busy…although sometimes I really wish he wasn't. But he is the Hokage now, so I can safely say that he has higher responsibilities. Well, as I carefully make my way out of the small clan house, I quietly steal a glance at my sister, who is snoring contently at this time. I smile before closing the door completely. Six o'clock was way too early for her…and it should be for myself, but I force myself…so I can become something worthy of the title "Uzumaki prodigy".

As I made my way to the place we were to meet Konohamaru-sensei, I began thinking about where exactly we were going. Kusagakure no Sato, or the Hidden Village of the Grass, was located in an area that is best known for dry, high grasslands offset by a small area of wet grasslands. It was an area that had been known for rather dangerous creatures and grassland fires, as well as having a reputation for summoners of rather nasty creatures like snakes, lions, and some huge leathery creature known as an elehephunt…elephat...elephant...uh, something like that. Screw it.

Point being, this information means it's not a very pleasant place to be…but it was our mission.

As I came to the main gates…again I was the first one. I sighed slightly before removing my pack and set it on the ground as I got comfortable. The morning chill clung to my skin, while the dew clung to the orange vest I wore. Luckily it was a deep orange, not the bright orange my father wore at my age…

Three, two, one…

In a flash, a green blur appears at the far end of the street appears and low and behold Mai-chan appears. Her green shorts and tight green top clung to her frame gloriously in the morning dawn light, and with her pack slung over her shoulder and her headband worn around her slim waist much like a belt. She flashed me a small smile before joining me in the early morning light.

After a few minutes, a heavy but quiet plodding of feet indicated that Shizuka had joined us. For once in his life, the bastard was quiet…although as he sat down, the way he slumped gave away the fact that he was dead tired.

Probably too tired from being an asshole. And that's just a wild guess.

Shizuka began snoring softly as Mai-chan settles in to do some shadow boxing. I smiled slightly to myself before another blur appears, this one a black one. In a flash, it stops and Konohamaru-sensei makes his appearance as the sky finally breaks and the sun peeks over the Hokage monument, with six faces looking almost like they were smiling down on me. From the first three Hokages who looked wizened and aged, to my biological grandfather, to Tsunade-sama, to even the man I never knew yet made such an impression on my own father…even from behind that mask of his (something my father was rather steamed about) he smiled down on the four of us.

"So, are we ready to go?" Konohamaru-sensei asked, although he question was more rhetorical than anything else.

I'm sure in hell ready for this.

- - - - -

The day seemed to drag on and on, and from what I heard it would take at least two days of fast walking to make it to Kusagakure no Sato. So, when Konohamaru-sensei called the team to start pitching up camp. The whole day was mostly uneventful, and as we were getting ready for the night, it looked to be the same as well.

"All right, all right, gather around. Now that we have established camp, what are we supposed to do?" Konohamaru-sensei asked as he was almost lazily putting up his tent.

"T make sure we make someone suffer," Shizuka muttered under his breath as he began unraveling his own knapsack and getting his small pup tent out of his packing. As I did the same, I began searching for the answer. Once the basics were up, we were to establish defenses. That meant small traps, a clear overview of the are for resources, and...

"We have to establish guard duty, sensei!" Mai-chan blurts out loudly but proudly, dropping her knapsack from her damn near violent outburst. I winced at the volume. Mai-chan was certainly loud, but she was certainly sure of herself (not even being bashful as she picked up her discarded bag).

"Well, in addition to blowing out everyones eardrums, you got it right..." Konohamaru-sensei said as he idly stuck his finger in his ear, almost as if he was trying to clean the noise out of his ear (I would too, but it was Mai-chan and not just one of my fan girls) as he applied chakra to the ropes of his tent, allowing it to pop out into a full sized one in front of our eyes without it even looking like it was any trouble at all.

"Show off," Shizuka muttered under his breath. Fortunately (or unfortunately for Shizuka), this earned him a sharp smack on the head from Konohamaru-sensei. I snorted slightly before my hand almost reflexively went to my mouth, trying in vain the stop the scoff from getting out. I receive odd looks from Mai-chan and Shizuka (not to mention a rather bemused look from Konohamaru-sensei) before our sensei continues as if nothing happened.

"Thats right. We have to set a guard to make sure no thieves or, however unlikely, enemy ninja get the slip on us. So, we'll draw straws to determine who goes when," Konohamaru-sensei said as he reached into the grass beside our little encampment-to-be and pulled three small stems of grass. He held them out to us, much to my confusion(and apparently the others as well). After a few seconds of us staring blankly at him (or the straws, or both), Konohamaru-sensei grimaced.

"What, have any of you ever drawn straws before?" he asked incredulously.

"No, I get it. But why would you draw straws for something as important as guard duty?" Shizuka asked as he idly readjusted his glasses. I nodded in agreement, and as I shot a glance to Mai-chan, I was struck with one of the oddest scenes I have ever seen.

Mai-chan had a small notepad out, her attention solely on Konohamaru-sensei as if she were taking advice from Kami-sama himself. I stifled a laugh, before I was nudged by Shizuka.

"Oi, retard, take your straw."

I glared at the arrogant bug user who was looking at me like I had just walked on his foot or something just as foolish. After a second, though, I saw that Shizuka was holding a small grass blade.

Oh. Well, damn it, that what I get for not paying attention.

"S-sorry sensei," I said, stuttering under my breath as I reached forward and grabbed grass leaf. I pulled it back and...

- - - - -

...and I just _had_ to pick that one. The one that HAD to be shorter than either Shizukas or Mai-chans.

I shivered slightly as the late-night chill began to seep through my open jacket. I idly thought of closing it, but I knew that within...I glance up at the sky to see the risen half-moon...twenty minutes my shift as the guard on duty would be over and I could get to sleep. So, I concentrate chakra as I make one last sweep with my Byakugan, then I'll make wake up the bastard...

Wait a minute.

Something is NOT right here.

My Byakugan caught a small amount of movement before it disappeared behind me, into my blind spot. Silently cursing, I kept my Byakugan active as I non-chalantly turned my head to the left, trying to catch whatever (or whoever) is behind me.

There is someone there.

Judging by their clothing, they were just a damn highway man, but their movements were lithe and precise. However, its also a bit halting, and the person looks to be fully grown. My instincts are screaming that this was a thief, and now it was time to do my job...

At the expense of Shizuka, of course.

I cautiously get up, noting that the person in the shadows have simply stays still, staring at me as I slowly, almost casually making my way to Shizukas tent. Shizuka is snoring contently in his tent, and as I bend down I reach for his boots and give them a small shake. Shizuka shakes himself, but then he rolls over. I scowl at his sleeping body.

"Shizuka-teme, time to get up," I said, annoyed. Shizuka slowly rolled over, before he looked up at me bleary-eyed. I make a subtle movement with my head, then roll my eyes to the side that the thief was. He looked at me bleary-eyed, before rubbing his eyes and mumbling something under his breath. And from where I was, it sounded a lot like the "colorful metaphors" my sister often used.

"Shizuka, we have a problem. We. Have. Company," I said nice and slow, trying to sound as condescending tot eh bleary eyed bastard, in a double-edged attemnpt to get him up. After all, he seems to get easily steamed at me for insulting him, so it'll get up sooner. Two, he'll get up sooner and be ready to go quicker.

True to prediction, he gets up quicker and looks to be ready to yell at me when he notices my Byakugan active. I slowly move my gaze to the thief, who is still in the direction to the north but seems to be moving forward. I slowly get up and begin walking towards my tent.

Okay...here we go...

In a flash, I'm off. I cast two kunai at the tall bastard who has been stalking us. He slowly reacts, but something about his movements that is so...well, odd. His halting movements manage to pull his body out of the way, and he's off in a flash. I throw another kunai, but he again pulls himself out of the way and throws something of his own. I only get a flash of what it is, but it looks like a senbon and the bastard sends back four more. I dodge the first one, but as the last four whiz by, I feel the bite of one of the last ones as it slices into my arm.

Great.

I may have just gotten poisoned.

I stop, knowing that if I continued, I probably be pulled into an ambush. But, the bastard went running like a coward, so it's not something I have to worry about. I reach to my arm to pull out the damnable senbon that the bastard threw at me, but as my hand searches for the cold steel I find something extremely strange in the small blotch of warm liquid that I'm sure is my blood.

I pull my hand away and look at what was caught in the fabric of my jacket where a steel senbon needle should have been.

I was staring at a blade of grass.

**END**

**A/N:** Well, sorry for the wait, but I had two major things happen while I have been working on this.

One: I have had a massive increase of schoolwork. Those damnable finals are coming up, so I don't think I'll be able to update any of my stories for a while. At least two and a half weeks, while at the worst could be a month.

Two: I have just changed from Microsoft Word to Open Office. I like it a lot more, and I love the price tag, so I made the change over. This is the first chapter using it, so if there are any problems blame the program...although I doubt it.

Sorry about the lack of updates!


	9. Unforseen

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Unforseen

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Nine: Unforseen**

I did not have a good night. After the thief had gotten away, I had to explain to Konohamaru-sensei that I had somehow got impaled by a sharp piece of grass (Shizuka had to take a hit at this, _just _for me. "Wow, did you fall hard on the grass or what?" I made a mental note to close off his tenketsu later) and lost the person who was stalking our team. I had received such a grilling from Konohamaru-sensei about proper shinobi conduct when dealing with an unkown opponent, especially when on the first C-Rank mission. What what got me was Mai-chans reaction. Sympathy? Worry? Fear? No. She was disappointed that I didn't get _her_ up to help fight the intruder. I could swear that she was becoming just like her father as each day drew by.

Wow. My luck, huh?

Well, I spent most of the night tossing and turing, trying to fight my way to sleep. When I got to sleep and was forced awake by Shizuka (or, rather, a kikai beetle who decided to become friendly to the top of my head), I had only sleept three and a half hours. Lacking my normal motivators (a warm shower and a bowl of instant ramen) I simply pulled myself out of bed and I literally trudged the rest of the way, the whole time my eyes aching and my thoughts muddled. I didn't even notice the change in scenery that signaled the border until until we had walked for nearly a mile.

Wow, some genius I am.

As we had gotten farther into the country that housed Kusagakure, the grass beside the road grew denser, the air grew more humid, and every once in a while massive bugs that I supposed were supposed to be mousquitos (they were at least triple the size of the ones in Konoha, and they latched on eagerly without being scared off by a simple swat like they normally did) decided to use me as a walking buffet. But, to my benefit, I wasn't the only one that was harrassed by the ungodly-sized insects. In fact, the one who seemed to attract the most of the massive insects was Konohamaru-sensei, who would curse loudly when one decided to get a taste of his only to swear aloud again juist a few moments later with another on his leg, going _through_ his blue Jounin pants to get to his blood. Mai-chan had managed to avoid the majority of the bugs from biting her, and at least she seemed concerned with just how bad everyone was getting bitten.

Thats when we saw it.

Kusagakure no Sato was, according to our studies, the second youngest of the Hidden Villages, only having that status taken from them by Otogakure a decade and a half later. It was prone to flooding and lots of rain during the winter and spring months, and supposedly the majority of the buildings were actually built on stilts, to avoid the massive swelling of water in the winter. Many of the buildings looked almost primitive, looking to be made of straw and mud, but Kusagakure was famous for being extremely ingenious with their architecture: the grass and mud was fortified using some sort of mineral ingredient that made the buildings as sturdy as any made of pure wood. Plus, as they were made of mud and dry grass, many problems that existed with wood, such as rotting, was avoided. I was always mesmerized by the stories, but I had somehow always thought that they were somehow exaggerated.

Not so.

As we had made our way to what I could guess were the outer walls, I could only marvel at the fact that the wall, while by no means the sizes of Konohas masisve walls, was completely natural and extraordinarily thick, making for a rather effective barrier. Add to this the fact that these plants were supposed to be chakra enhanced to resist burning and plant manipulating jutsu, and it made fo r a wall that was just as forboding. And as the Kusa-nin alowed us entrance, I saw that all the buildings were indeed at least three feet off of the ground. Yet many of the amenities of villages were there: the streets were paved (albiet with a black, almost glassy appearance to it), while streetlights stood at the side, awaiting nightfall to be lit and provid the night travelers to see. I saw that, despite the fact that it was by no means the size of Konoha, it was indeed impressive.

"Hmm, I wonder what kind of bugs they have here?"

Of course, Shizuka has to worry about the _bugs_ seeing as they decided to use us for meals.

I look around, seeing that many of the people were giving us odd looks, and as I looked donw to my clothing, then to the rest of the team, I knew why. With my deep orange clan jacket, Mai-chans bright green clothing, and Shizukas pale jacket, we were very out of sorts with the earthen colors of light greens, soft browns, and pale yellows I was seeing often from the villagers around here. To them it was obvious that we were outsiders, and either they would go on our way (my hope) or someone would try to take advantage of us, until they see the headbands we're all wearing.

"All right, everyone. According to our friends at the main gate, the Kusokages complet should be somewhere near here. Let's move out," Konohamaru-sensei said with and almost melodramatic wave of his hand. I had to bring my hands up to my mouth to stiffle a laugh. I had seen that type of ovement before: whenever my father proclaimed something to be taken seriously, he always had his arm out that way. As I make a quick glance to Mai-chan (and feeling a slight twinge of heat from my cheeks) I'm reem,inded that there are others that I see. Shikamaru-senseis defeated sigh. Lee-sans "Nice Guy pose". Uncle Sasukes small smirk, and Aunt Sakuras monsterous stength, reepresented by a menacing fist.

It's strange that I would be so familiar with these kind of things, especially with Aunt Sakuras fist. I subconciously rub the spot on my head from an incident with my Aunt Sakura. I was pretty young, but it had something involving with Aunt Sakuras chest and my hand. I don't really know what happened, but my father blamed it on Jiraiyas lecherous influences on me while Aunt Sakura pointed the blame (rather pointedly, too) at my father. She really didn't hit me that hard...well at least relatively. For a seven year old boy, it hurt like hell.

- - - - -

As we come up to a rather large building built in the same way as the other buildings, I found myself thinking back on some of the history lessons from Udon-sensei. Although there were the five true Kages, the Kages of the five great hidden villages, many of the smaller villages are led by people who are sometimes called the Lesser Kages: powerful shinobi who are often the best from their respective village. Some of these Kage (sometimes called "demi-kage") are simply someone who is noticably powerful for a shinobi, but is altogether not a threat to the more established kage, much like the current Kusokage. Some, like the Shodaime Otokage and Nidaime Hedukage, are extraordinarily powerful, matching the power of the original Sannin (my father, Uncle Sasuke, and Aunt Sakura are sometimes called the "New Sannin", but they try to avoid that term), and can easily be a threat to the more established kage. In fact, several of the famous kages have even died at the hands of some of the lesser kages, like the Sandaime Hokage at the hands of the Shodaime Otokage, and the Yondaime Mizukage at the hands of the Nidaime Yukikage (although the latter died soon afterwords, due to massive internal injuries). In the case of these kages, they ranged from slight to major threats, and because of my...close relationship to the Shichidaime Hokage, I pretty much have a gigantic neon sign around my neck that simply screams "Kidnap me!"

In fact, that's what happened, the day that the Akatsuki attacked us...

_Flashback_

_The atmosphere was certainly tense. I may only be eight (Nine in one month, eleven days, and ten hours), but I know that something is wrong. My father is on edge. Jiraiya-san is grim. Even my Uncle Sasuke seemed to be more serious then he normally is. Yet there is some attempt to keep normalcy, so even with the hostility, my whole family went to Ichirakus. My mother carried Rika protectively, holding on to her in a way that even she held on to the three year old (Although she proudly proclaims that she'll be four soon, and shes gonna catch up to me). My father even went without his normal ANBU mask._

_It was almost surreal._

_It happened almost inconspiculously. First my Uncle Neji came rushing up, whispering something into his ear. As soon as he turned to my Uncle Sasuke, there is a large explosion. As soon as the dust settles, four figures slowly walk towards us. I couldn't tell what they really looked like, but I saw that one of them had a large sword, and all of them wore a black cloak with red clouds on them. Even i know who they are. The Akatsuki...and there were four of them after my father. I screamed out loud, not even knowing if my father could even survive._

_My father looked at me with those sad eyes of his. He shot a look at my mother, who looked like she was going to start crying. Then he looked to my Uncle Sasuke and mouthed something. Something that I could read, even as my Uncle nodded grimly and grabbed me._

"_Keep him safe. Keep them all safe"_

My eyes well up at the memory, but I try to hide them away as we begin to enter Kusokages complex. As we came in, we certainly got our share of glares, and as my recent memories washed through my head I looked down, keeping my eyes to my feet. As we walk forward, I feel another presence to my left, and a small hand on my shoulder, in a supportive way. I look up to see Mai-chan at my side, giving me a supportive smile. I turn bright red, but manage to to give an appreciative smile back.

After a few choice words from Konohamaru-sensei to the Kusokages guards, the doors opened and we were ushered inside to what looked like a narrow entrance way. In fact, I couldn't even see past Konohamaru-sensei when something caught my eyes...or, rather, a sound caught my ear.

"Ah! Sarutobi Konohamaru! It is great to see the progeny of someone as powerful as the Sandaime Hokage here," came a boisterous voice from the other side of the room. I peeked out to see a massive pile of paperwork on a massive desk in front of Konohamaru-sensei. As we made our way to a less packed area of the room, I saw long black and grey hairs peeking out from behind the assorted paperwork. After a few seconds a rather robust man, looking to be in his mid-fourties, stood up. His salt-and-pepper hair was cut short, but it was wildly tangled. He was heavily tanned, and he wore a, eye patch over his right eye. He wore a smile that looked like it had been painted on, almost like his face had been forced into that position.

My first impression: I do not like this guy.

His oddly smiling face moves to the left, apparently eyeing Shizuka. Shizuka visibly shudders under the scrutinyof the smiling mans gaze. Inwardly, I smile, knowing that at least I'm not the only one who thinks this guy is weird. But then the mans attention moves to the right, going past Mai-chan and...then right to me. His eyes almost light up in glee and his insincere smile stretches a fractin of an inch more. Inwardly, I groan.

"Well, it is certainly a good sign that the current Hokage sends his eldest to a meeting such as this!" he says, before moving around the table to show his normal shinobi styling. If it wasn't for his head, i would almost be convinced he was a competent shinobi. With it...well, he looks like a travelling shinobi salesman.

"Kusakage-sama, this is besides the point. We are here to simply deliver a message to you, and then we shall be done," Konohamaru-sensei said as he moved forward, the scrool my father gave him in his hand. I was certainly happy that we would be going soon.

As we turn to leave, there is a rustle outside the door, and within a few seconds of hearing the rustling there were loud yells from the outside. Konohamaru-sensei looked to the three of us, giving us a once over before turning to the Kusakage.

"What is the meaning of this, Kusakage-_sama_," Konohamaru-sensei hisses loudly, turning to the man in question. I instantly jump into a defensive Jyuuken stance, and as I activate my Byakugan I see Mai-chan jumping into her own stance and Shizuka jumping into a stance I have seen Shino-san do before, and I am guessing it's a defensive one.

"No...I have nothing to do with this! I think i know who is behind this kind of..." the Kusakage stammers, before rightinghimself. The smile is gone, and now I can see why this man is a kage, even a minor one. With the stupid smile gone and the serious expression there, it vaguely reminds me of my own fathers stare when he fought against the Akatsuki to defend our family.

"Kusakage-sama!" came a muffled voice from the other side of the door. After a few seconds, a slightly bloodied ninja pulls open the door, with what could best be described as fear.

"Kusakage-sama! O-Oya-Oyashiro is on the move!" the chunin practically yelled before the man ducked back out of sight. But, even through the thick mud and straw doors, I could hear the heavy fighting.I turn to face Konohamaru-sensi, but before I could say anything part of the Kage Towers wall beside the Kusakages desk blew off with a thunderous boom.

"This is Kusagakures fight, Sarutobi Konohamaru. Get out of here, for your mission is over." the man said. Konohamaru-sensei nodded and looked to us. I looked to the other two, and after a second the three of us move simultaneously to take advantage of the new opening made out of the wall.

As we jump out, I nearly gag as I see, hear, and smell all things that are battle.

There are fires all around, and the thick smoke makes it hard to see much...or rather, _would have_ if I didn't have my Byakugan activated. Through the smoke and fire, I can easily see the battle going on before me. It's massive: all of my range has at least some activity, and using my normal vision the fighting looks to go all the way back to the gates. I swore out loud, but when a flash of metal became visible to my Byakugan and I jerked out of the way, only to find that my jerk had pulled me out of trajectory and well on my way to smacking hard into a building. I turned my body again so my feet face the builing, and as I got close enough to hit the building I kicked away, pushing the wall in an attempt to rebound off and hopefully get to the ground and rejoin the team.

Unfortunately, I could only _hope _for so much. I crash through the grass and mud and through what looks like a glass window, which I crash through with such a force it feels like the whole sill give as I pass through. I tumble roughly to the ground, and as I get up to loiok around, the bllodshed of the fighting is far more obvious from here. With my Byakugan, I can see the wounded Kusa-nin through the home I just crashed through...

...and the three bodies in the house I just crashed through. A man, a woman, and what looks like a child. I bite back a gasp as my Byakugan sees the man huddled over the two, three arrows stuck through his back and his eyes glossed over. The woman is just under the man, but she had a shuriken half-lodged through her temple. The child...

Wait! The child is still alive! The child (who looked to only be a few months old) is still, but when i was examining the woman, the child squirmed a little bit. It looks to be a little girl. I carefully get up (ignoring the throbbing in my left elbow) and jump up to the window. Seeing it in front of me just makes it worse, and as I look around I start to feel sck. These people were no shinobi. They were civilians...and guessing by the slightly ajar door directly in front of them (ignoring the big gaping hole I just put through the wall) they were simply bystanders to this ugly thing around us. As I see the child, her bright red hair sticking out of a small bundle of blankets, I felt my anger begin to rise. Just who the hell thought this was a good idea to revolt against the Kusakage? Innocent people were dying!

Biting back the red-hot anger for now, a scooped up the child, trying to keep her parents blood off of my jacket, I could only look as the kid somehow managed to sleep through everything, not even flinching as I had grabbed her out of her dead mothers arms.

I'm going to protect her, at least until we can get her to safety. Securing her on my back using her blanket, I began running (soaring through the air may be faster, but I don't want to go through another wall, especially with her on my back. But as I run out the way I came, I realize something: I'm only about ninety meters from the gate walls we had come through. As fast as i could (while making sure the little girl was still there) I flashed forward to see an unsettling sight just before the walls. Konohamaru-sensei was staring down a tall female and a boy who looked to be my age. All alone.

In an instant, fear coursed through my viens with an intensity I haven't felt in a while. Where was Mai-chan? Where was Shizuka-teme?

I have to help Konohamaru-sensei! But how?

Time to take a page out of my fathers book. I charge forward, not stopping until I'm next to Konohamaru-sensei, instantly in an offensive Jyuuken pose.

"Sorry about being late, Konohamaru-sensei!"

I tried to sound, tough, I really did. But, even as I looked at the two, I just had to wonder. Just who were these people Konohamaru-sensei was staring down.

**END**

**A/N: **Pant...gasp...wow...that took a lot longer than I hoped for it to. Sorry for the long wait, but I had a lot to do, but at least I came through! Now, it's going to get hairy from here, and there will be an introduction to an old enemy, one from ToaWBJ.

Hee hee! Yay interconnectedness!

Oh, and as to one of my reviews...yes, it is Kusagakure...not Kusogakure...which is just one more thing that tells me...

I NEED A TRANSLATOR!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know any japanese, and little mistakes like that pass me up like nothing. It'll get even worse later, when I try to come up with jutsu names. I'll come up with somehting cool like "Grass Needle Technique", but when I try to translate it it'll come out like "Grass and sharp dango sticks technique". Now, a translator would be awsome...


	10. Our True Nature

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** True Nature

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Ten: True Nature**

As I stood there, in the Jyuuken stance, just watching the other two, time seemed to reach a standstill, my Byakugan eyes studying their very features and trying to make sense of just what the hell was going on.

The woman looked to be in her mid-fourties, and judging by the way that she looked she seemed more a slim housewife than some sort of threat...at least, at first glance. The way she held herself...it was very clear that she was a ninja of some kind. And not someone who had been a genin before running away at the first sign of grief. This woman walked in much the same way my Uncle Sasuke walked. The way the Sai-san walked.

Creepy is the best word to describe it.

There was only one group from any village that looked like whatever they did, they were treading carefully, yet moving with an odd amount of grace and speed, not unlike a cat or a snake.

The ANBU.

The other person, the boy, looked to be my age. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. He was a bit pale and his eyes glinted maniaclly. He was a quite a bit taller than me (then again, I am really short to begin with), but he was lanky and, if looking with a casual eye, one would think he may have been malnourished. With my eyes, though, I could tell that it was nearly pure muscle...which was odd. But what was oddest about his features was the fact that he had a smile that just made him look crazy. He looked not only willing to kill us, but he seemed almost looking forward to it.

This kid was creepy, but when that woman looked at me, I could swear that the humid air around me dropped about fifteen degrees. Those eyes, a light brown that seemed to gaze past you and into your soul, stared at me unblinking before she opened her mouth to speak.

"Uzumaki Satoshi. Eldest son of Uzumaki Naruto, Shichidaime Hokage of Konohagakure, and Uzumaki Hyuuga Hinata, former heir of the Hyuuga clan who stepped down to be allowed into the Uzumaki clan. Young user of the Jyuuken fighting style, and best of class of Konohas Ninja Academy," the woman said, almost like she was reciting it from memory. Her voice was cold and calculating, not unlike a machine. Her gaze was unwavering as she recited this, while I searched my mind for a clue, _any_ clue, as to who this woman was...and I found nothing. I tried to stay calm, but the way she was looking at me...

Disturbing would be a _gross_ understatement.

"This is NOT the time to be discussing information on my student...Rena," Konohamaru-sensei said with a definite hiss. Using my Byakugan, I saw that his eyes narrowed and his attention glanced off to his right...not at me, but past me...

"Indeed, Sarutobi Konohamaru, grandson of the Sandaime hokage and nephew to Sarutobi Asuma the Twice Born. But, we are under strict orders from Oyashiro-sama to not allow anyone to leave the village while the cleansing took place," she said, absolutely no emotion in her voice as she turned her attention back to Konohamaru-sensei.

Just who in the hell WAS this woman? She was like a walking dictionary!

"Oyashiro-sama?" Konohamaru asked, but the second part of what she said disturbed me the most. It was the fact that she called this a "cleansing".A _cleansing_! I had just seen the equivalent of Hell on Earth, and this is just a cleansing! The babies family was dead and rotting in that damn apartment because of a _damn cleansing! _The whole conversation was making me sick...

Crap!

I had completely forgot about the baby!

"Konohamaru-sensei, we have...a bit of an issue. Take a look in on my pack," I hissed under my breath. I saw Konohamaru-sensei looking to my back, and he grimaced when he saw the little girl.

"Get the child to Mai and Shizuka. They are in the grass to the right. I'll try to take care of these two," Konohamaru-sensei said as he motioned to the right for added benefit. I increased the length of my Byakugan to see them their...but...it was odd. Shizuka was down, though he looked okay, judging by the way his chest rose and fell slowly. But Mai-chan...Mai-chan looked almost drunk...

"Got it," I said as I darted off, seeing Konhamaru-sensei jumping to cover my flight. I needed to protect the baby, and if it meant getting to Mai-chan and Shizuka-teme and having to defend them when they are injured. But, glancing back, it looked like both the woman and the lankey kid were being held back by Konohamaru-sensei. As I rushed to the clearing, I noticed something odd about Mai-chan as she sat there, seemingly staring into space.

She was swaying, almost like a drunkard. Could this be that technique that my father told me about? The one that when someone like Lee-san drank alcohol, they went into an inebriated rage? If it was, where did Mai-chan get alcohol?

"Oh...hey...Satoshi...kun," Mai chan said really slowly. I raise my eyebrow at this and began looking over her with my Byakugan. It looked almost like there was some foreign chakra in her system. A lot of it. I grimaced, knowing that someone had probably put Mai-chan under a genjutsu, and a good one at that. As I was looking over her, Mai-chan shuddered.

"W-what is it, Mai-chan?" I asked, looking her in the. What I saw back was certainly not something I wanted to see in her eyes.

"Those eyes...don't look at me with them, please, Satoshi-kun. They're too much like hers...," Mai-chan whispered almost hysterically as she turned her attention away from my eyes. It took me a second tyo realize that I was using my Byakugan...and most likely it looked much like that woman back there, staring into you soul. I deactivated it, allowing the chakra to retreat from my eyes and the Byakugans powers slowly fading away.

"What happened, Mai-chan? What's wrong with Shizuka?" I asked, reaching behind me to grab the baby off of my shoulder.

"We...we were going jumping to the gates...and then someone set off an explosive tag in between us and Konohamaru-sensei. We got separated by the blast, and...we were attacked by that woman and her team. We managed to hold them off, with Shizuka even taking on two of them...but then that woman did something...and...a-and...," Mai-chan kept up that low whisper, and as she began describing what this Rena woman did, she began shivering and her eyes went wide.

"What? What is it, Mai-chan," I said, looking to Shizuka and trying to keep my composure. How dare that woman do such a thing to Mai-chan, or even Shizuka-teme! Regardless of how much I did (or didn't) like them, these two people were members of my team!

"...it was a kind of genjutsu...but I could not ...I could not do my taijutsu!"

I was taking the baby off of my back when she had said that. It wasn't some horribly terrifying monster from her nightmares that she faced, but the fact that she couldn't do her taijutsu is what terrified her so much.

Heh heh. Mai-chan will be Mai-chan.

"Mai-chan, I need you to watch this baby. I saved it from her home...her parents were dead," I said slowly, slowly handing the baby to her. She graciously (if uneasily) took it into her arms, and she looked up appreciatively...until it looked like something caught her eye.

"S...sn...snake!" She screamed as she turned her face away. I instantly looked back, activating my Byakugan at the same time to see the kid Konohamaru-sensei had been fighting lungeing at me. I snapped around, wondering why she had called him a snake.

It didn't take long for me to figure out why.

As I lauched my first Jyuuken strike, he did something wholly unexpected...and yet oddly familiar: He pulled his body downward, leveling in a low crouch reminicinte of a snake coiling to strike. His attacks were similar to a snakes, lashing out quickly and backing away. I had managed to avaoid a spear strike to my stomach, but almost instantly his other hand passed my guard and speared my chest. I gasped loudly as I jumped away. That single strike nearly knocked the wind out of me, and I had seen the chakra encasing it.

He had tried to kill me right then and there, and it was pure luck I survived.

"Ahh...perhaps the great Uzumaki clan is not as great as previously thought," the bastard all but hissed at me as he again came in. This time I had gone for a feint, my front hand shooting forward to get him to move into range of my second strike. As he came in, he began moving with the feint, but at the last second, he again lurched, somehow pulling his torso out fo the way as the chakra of my Jyuuken strike blew impotently beside him and disipate.

There was a part of me that just wanted to stop and scream "Stay still, you bastard!"

But as I managed to block a blow of his, something struck me as familar. The way this guy moved was eerily familiar. The odd lurching, the way he almost seemed to mimic snakes...where have I seen this before? I had managed to back away from him when he began flashing handsigns. I cast two shuriken at him, but again he did that strangle lurching again and pulled himself away form danger. Then, both his hands impacted the ground, and I could feel the chakra moving through the ground.

"Doton: Kusa Hari no Jutsu!"

As I processed his words, I looked down at the ground. There was a little chakra...but what the hell did he just do? After a seconds hesitation, I began my sprint towards him...

...and when I felt the grass blade slip through my sandals, causing a loud squishing sound as the grass blades went _through _my foot, causing me to bellow in pain, a pain that I had never felt before, was when I realized it was a trap. I trap I had willingly ran right into, and as the grass needles stuck through my foot, threatening to sever every muscle, I could only hear one thing.

The bastards dry, rough laughter.

"Fool. It was the same trick I used against you back at your camp. You are hopelessly predictable," The bastard hissed arrogantly, and after looking down to the bloodsoaked grass under my feet I realized why eveything this bastard did was so familiar.

He was the theif! The damn thief at the camp! He was the one who threw _grass_ at me and cut my arm! I have to kill this arrogant bastard now!

And as he looked towards Mai-chan, my blood turned cold.

"My my, what do we have _here_?" He mockingly asked me as he walked over to Mai-chan, who had curled into a fetal position with the baby clutched to her chest. To see her so weak...here, was heartwrenching, but then he grabbed a handfull of her hair and with a whimper from her the bastard pulled her up to him and my blood boiled over.

"A bit young...but she looks so _lucious_, especially with these celestial orbs..." He said as he looked down, staring directly at her chest. I tried to struggle, to fight the grass, but as soon as I moved the grass barbed into my foot, tearing into my skin again.

That perverted bastard! How **dare** he do that to my dear Mai-chan!

Wait.

Wait.

What?

Did I just say my _dear _Mai-chan?

When did she become **my** Mai-chan?

"Oh...she is important to you, yes? Well, as soon as I have my way with her, I let you watch as I cut her throat, then the little babies throat, then I finish you. It is certainly bad luck to have come during Oyashiro-samas purge, in order to make this village great...unlike your soft village. You claim to be strong, but yet I have defeated all of you without so much as a scratch. Oyashiro-sama will soon rid us of the weak, and then we shall turn against your village and rid you of your weak, much like Danzo tried to do."

Inside, I was burning up. This bastard had just insulted all I care about, was about to have his way with Mai-chan _right in front of me_, and was the whole time saying how this purge was a good thing.

It...was disgusting.

It was...

It was INFURIATING!!!!!

"I'm not done yet, you bastard!" I yelled as I tore away at the grass, only to have my hand bloodied and sliced as my had was cut open by the grass.

"Noble, but foolish. But, I will still have my fun," He hissed again, and he began reaching down, to a weakly struggling Mai-chan, who had tears falling down her face...

Those tears...her tears...

Inside of me, sometyhing shifted.

Something changed.

Something just...well...I guess the right word would be snapped.

In an instant, I say more around me, and as I looked at this bastard, there was one thing screaming in my mind, something that I didn't want to fight at all. It screamed kill, and as it overwhelemd my senses, even with the grass barbs cutting into my foot as I pulled it out of the grass trapzone. In a flash, I was behind the bastard, who was simply looking at where I was. I was seeing red the whole time, and as I saw the fear enter his eyes I simply smiled my own smile before my fist, which was somehow swimming with chakra, flew at him and launched him at least thirty feet away, wrenching him loose of Mai-chan.

As I charged after the bastard again, I had to resist the urge to get down on all fours.

I still saw the fear in his eyes, and even as he signed to do the same jutsu again, I could see the chakra swirling around his hands. The specific way that his handsigns molded the chakra within him, and as I charged forward, he did the same trick, slamming his jutsu into the ground. This time I saw the grass sticking up impossibly straight. But I simply kept charging.

As I ran over the chakra-infused blades, I felt something curious. The blades of grass would slip into my foot, causing a brief burst of pain, but then it was gone a second later, as soon as I had pulled my foot up.

"H-how is this possible? You shouldn't be able to just run through the grass!" the bastard yelled as he reached down and plucked three of the grass baldes before throwing them at me. I recoiled, expecting to feel the sharp sting of the grass blades, but they didn't come. When I saw the grass blades get close, what looked almost like a tail of chakra shot out of my blind spot and into the way of the grass blade. As they passed through the tail, they lost their own chakra and fell, harmless as the normal blades of grass around me.

The bastard in front of me froze when the tail blocked the grass, and as I closed in thew bastard may as well been looking into the gates of Hell. Well, it's time he got a first hand look. Be it teeth, hand, or blade, he's going to die, here and now!

It was right when I jumped at him when I heard another voice ring through the air.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!"

I jumped back, watching the dragon looking flame pass between me and the bastard. I wanted to run through the flame, to catch the guy and pull him in after me, but when I turned to face whoever had summoned the fire, I was staring at the eyes of Konohamaru-sensei.

In an instant, the fire that had been blazing within me had stopped like a bucket of water had been dropped onto it. Konohamaru-senseis eyes were not filled with anger, or fear, or suspicion. It was sadness. As i thought back to the fight, I instantly came up with a chilling idea: I had been toying with the older boy, toying with his emotions. Wherever that power came from, it was more than enough to finish the fight, and yet I had played with him, much like the way a cat played with a wounded mouse before eating it.

"So it's happened," Konohamaru-sensei muttered, as he somehow gathered Shizuka, Mai-chan, and the now wailing baby all at once. What did he mean by that? I looked from Konohamaru-sensei to the fire to see the empty spot where the young kid had been, and as we turned to run out the gate, leaving the broken warzone, that Hell, behind there was only one thing I could ask myself.

Just what in the hell just happened?

**END**

**A/N: **Well, I have tried to come up with a chapter at breakneck speed compared to my other chapters, and I cetainly hoped I delivered. I certainly hope I delievered on the battle between Satoshi and the person Mai had called "Snake."

As for what happened to Satoshi...well, lets leave that to the imagination for now, although there may be an idea. It's not _quite_ what may be implied, but it does have connections to...it...Hee hee hee!

**New Jutsu:**

Doton: Kusa Hari no Jutsu (Earth Style: Grass Needle Technique) Rank - High B: A technique that pumps chakra into grass-covered ground, making the grass within the area razor sharp. With increased chakra in the ground it allows further control of the grass, allowing the user to make barbs and impale the foot. The chakra used to create the jutsu remains in the grass for a little bit of time, allowing the user to pluck blades of grass and throw them like senbons. Ideal for traps, but unless the user uses a large amount of chakra to cover a large area.


	11. Questions and Answers

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Questions and Answers

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person.

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Eleven: Questions and Answers**

I don't think I've ever run that hard and that fast in my life, leaving the burning husk of Kusagakure no Sato in our dust as we ran. With the little baby, Shizuka-teme, and Mai-chan in tow, we had made our way about two-thirds of the way back when we were cut off by the dying sun...and my own burning legs. So we set up camp in what looked to be a deserted cottage, about two thirds of the way to Konoha. It was on the way, which was perfect, and it certainly be preferable to the cold, hard ground. As we had set up the perimeter, I had so many questions were burning in my head. For the few that I could manage to wrestle something resembling an answer, my whole body shuddered in confusion and frustration.

If what had happened to me back in Kusagakure the result the stress causing my mind to fracture a bit, where the hell did all the extra chakra (and the tail) come from? Did it have something to do with the Kyuubi? If so, HOW did the damn demon fox have anything to do with it? Was it some leftover youki in my system from my birth? If that was the case, why now and why me?

Too many questions. Way to many questions.

Far too many questions for anyone to tackle without any help. So I decided to go to a close source for the moment. Konohamaru-sensei was someone who knew my father since his time early on as a genin, a skilled shinobi and relatively intelligent. Maybe he has some idea as to what happened to me

"Konohamaru-sensei," I said, looking from my spot at what I could guess would be the welcoming room. The baby, Shizuka-teme and Mai-chan had been put into what I could guess was the kitchen, a place well sheltered compared to this room. Konohamaru-sensei looked up from what he was doing (I really couldn't tell from where I was sitting, but I could guess he was inventorying the supplies), and after looking at me he let out a sigh.

"I know what your going to ask me, and to honest I don't have a clue what to make of it. I can only make guesses, and all of them come from what your father jails. I...I think he had an experience similar to that when he was on his first C-ranked mission, where he fought the guy with the sword and the ice kid, but you'll have to talk with..."

Konohamaru-sensei stops suddenly, and begins to look around. After a few seconds, he looks to me and motions with his head to the left of him. After a second, I catch on.

There was someone there.

As I begin to draw chakra to my eyes, I see Konohamaru-sensei get up in a flash and dart towards the door. After a second, my Byakugan activates and I see a rather strange sight.

Konohamaru-sensei looked to be talking to the person in question.

I began pushing more chakra to my eyes, and as my vision expanded more, I saw what looked like a member of the ANBU talking to him. The sign on his mask was clear-he was from Konoha. We finally had some support. I relaxed and deactivated my Byakugan as Konohamaru-sensei led the ANBU towards the opening.

"Satoshi, we have support. Two teams of ANBU are here to take our place. His team will escort us home," Konohamaru-sensei said as he motioned to the ANBU man beside him, whose face was obscured by a dragon mask.

"So, the blood in your veins managed to keep you safe," came the familiar voice from behind the mask. After a second, the voice registered in my memory, a small smile crossing my face at the realization.

"Uncle Neji. It's been a while since I've seen you," I said carefully, moving towards my uncle. Once I got close enough, I shot forward and gripped my uncle in a tight embrace. He, along with my Grandfather Hiashi and my Aunts Hanabi and Ten Ten, were the select few of the Hyuuga clan I got to know well. There was a fair bit of animosity between my father and the rest of the clan, and from my own experiences the bastards were certainly not happy to see the Byakugan leave the family. In fact, it took all the influence from Grandfather, Tsunade-sama, and even some from Jiraiya to keep my mother, my sister, and I from receiving the Caged Bird Seal. Still, the Hyuuga elders were not happy and made damn sure that I had absolutely nothing to do with anyone in the family beyond Grandfather, Uncle Neji, Aunt Hanabi, Aunt Ten Ten and my cousin Hizashi. Even when Aunt Hanabi was now head of the clan and was damn powerful shinobi in her own right, the damn elders decided to play Kami in their clan.

I can agree with my father when it came to the Hyuuga elders: they are a bunch of hard-nosed, egotistical fools.

"Let me get my teammates up. They should be okay now," I said to Uncle Neji as I made my way towards the area that Mai-chan and Shizuka were. As I round the wall, I see the two of them sprawled out on the floor in front of me...or rather, Mai-chan is sprawled out next to the deeply dozing baby and Shizuka looks rather ram-rod as he lay propped against the wall. I reach down tenatively, hoping to carefully rouse Mai-chan from her slumber. When I slowly shook her, she rose, as if from a fitful dream, and looked up at me with an expression I really couldn't describe. After a second, shes up and, before I could do anything, has her arms wrapped around me in a hug.

"Thank you, Satoshi-kun. Thank you for not letting that...that _thing _touch me," She spat, her soft voice laced with anger. After a second, she let go and smiled before walking past me to see Konohamaru-sensei and Uncle Neji...while the whole time my face was beet red...and I had a bit of a hard time controlling my breathing.

After a second (after all, trying to bring my breathing under control is important at the moment), I hear rough chuckling coming from Shizuka. I turn to see him looking at me, the whole time chuckling knowingly.

"You know, you're pathetically easy to read," Shizuka said as he slowly rose to his feet, holding his hand up to show he was okay. After a few seconds, he looked toward me and looked almost like he was smiling. After a second, though, he became oddly serious.

"I saw your fight."

I stared at him...dumbfounded. I honestly thought he was unconcious! Did...did he see what i had become?

"It must be strange...the son of a hokage and someone who is undeniably a genius. Not to mention the fact that your father is the jinchuruuki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I can imagine how lonely you must have felt..."

I could only nod at what he was saying. I bet if I could only see my face, every painful memory in my mind would have been visible on my face. Every false friend, every angry glare, every snide remark on my intelligence from the crueller of the students...

"...it's something I'm familiar with. Maybe thats why I became more like Kiba than my own mother and father. It's something I know all too well. If you think you had it bad, imagine how bad the 'icky bug boy' got it. Even from someone I care about...and, just so the records straight, it isn't Mai."

After Shizukas nice, yet nasty, little monlouge, I felt a deep amount of sympathy and empathy. He knew exactly what it was like to be lonely, and he decided to rebel against it. Something in him rejected the nomral Aburame stoicism, making a way not unlike my fathers or Inuzuka Kibas. And I was too stupid to notice at the time. I was too absorbed in my own loneliness to see the same thing in another. I looked at Shizuka again, but this time I saw someone not unlike myself. I was seeing someone who, despite his faults, I could get to know well.

Okay...why the hell am I saying this? Do I need to have my Aunt Sakura? Or am I right? If that's the case, then I should stop calling him Shizuka-teme...

"By the way, this doesn't mean I won't stop messing with you," Shizuka said as he passed by, a small smirk on his lips as he passed my normal range of vision. I began to feel the blood begin to rise in me.

The bastard still knew how to push my buttons! That's it! He's permanently taken onn the label of "teme"!

- - - - -

As soon as we had gotten back to Konoha under the protection of my Uncle Neji, the first thing that happened was the report to my father on the situation. Once Konohamaru-sensei told Father exactly what had happened, and in particular what happened to me, once the meeting was dismissed I was immediately taken by my Aunt Sakura for a massive battery of tests and medical exams.

It wasn't exactly comfortable. When Aunt Sakura was in her doctor mode, she could be less than accomidating.

So here I am, sitting here in my underwear, freezing cold, and less than comfortable in Konohas main hospital, looking at the ceiling...and the tiles...and...well, not much else. I was waiting for any sort of clue as to what was going to happen...and specifically, what had happened to me in Kusagakure.

"Hey, hows my little shinobi?" A familiar voice said.

I rolled my eyes as I sat up, looking towards the door to see my father bedecked in his normal clothing with Rika in tow. I smiled a little bit, but my father always called me little shinobi and I always was a bit irked by it. Like a pet name.

"Hey, dad...I'm...well, I'm really confused right now."

"I know what you mean. Your mother's with Shizune, and they'll be here soon," My father said. He seemed to be happy, but as I looked into his eyes he was...well, concerned would be too weak of a word. The haunting look in his eyes...it was something I had never seen in my fathers eyes before. It was something that I could never associate with my father, Uzumaki Naruto, the Clone Master of Konoha and Shichidaime Hokage, at all.

Fear.

He was frightened.

"Nii-nii, guess what! Guess what!" came my sisters voice from beside my father, her voice low and urgent sounding. My father looked down to my sister, frowning.

"I know your excited about what you did, but right now it's not really..." My father started, but as he was talking, Rika was flashing through a series of handsigns that I honestly didn't pay attention to. But as she came to what looked to be the end, I began sensing the chakra beginning to build...and it almost seemed like it was ...

"Byakugan!"

As her kekkai genkai flashed to life, I felt an enourmous wave of satisfaction. She managed to do it! She managed to finally activate her Byakugan, and she didn't at all mess anything up! It was amazing that...

"I can see as much as Momma can, too!"

...she saw as much as my mother?

How is that possible? When I had found out that my Byakugan only saw three-hundred and fifty degrees around, I had thought that she would be the same way. After all, with the inclusion of my fathers blood, coupled with the Kyuubis effect on him, it made sense that my mothers blood would weaken slightly. But how did my sister, who was unable to even activate her Byakugan before I had left, somehow manage to match my mother when I have never been able to?

Am I really that ungifted?

"I said it wasn't the time, Rika!" My father said sternly, glaring at Rika as she turned to look up, even though her Byakugan was on.

Must just be a natural reflex for her.

"Now now, this is no time for bickering," came the familiar voice of my Aunt Sakura, as she came through the door followed by Shizune and my mother, who was carrying the baby I had rescued from Kusagakure. She really took to the baby, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see that I should be getting a new sister in the family soon.

One with bright red hair.

"Well, I think I may know what happened to Satoshi...and well, I don't know if I should call it disconcerting or...well, even positive," she said as she got out a series of scrolls and layed them out for all to see. I felt the comforting hand of my father on my shoulder as Sakura began motioning to the scrolls.

"Well, as I was doing a reading on his chakra coils, I noticed something odd. They were the same massive size they were compared to most genin his age...but as I did a through diagnostic of them (I mentally remembered that exhausting test she put me through to test my coils. They were absolutely brutal!) it looked almost like they had been pumped harder than normal and the damage normally associated with this extreme use of chakra had been healed rather fully. So, I dug a little deeper, going straight to his blood, particularly the DNA that controlled the Byakugan...well, I noticed something odd."

She unfurled another scroll as she began again.

"Now, in my research to bloodlines, I noted that people with kekkai genkai often had some parts of their DNA unstable, sometimes resulting in a particulalrly powerful weilder of that kekkai genkai among their children or, conversely, the ending of that bloodline at that person."

Aunt Sakura took in a sharp breath before continuing again.

"Hyuuga Hizashi was an example of the former, resulting in Neji, while the Shodaime Hokage was, in fact, one of the latter. That's why Tsunade-sensei doesn't have a kekkai-genkai. Now, as I looked over Satoshis initial scan, I noticed something odd. Where some dormant DNA of the Hyuugas originally resided, now some of Narutos DNA was there. But, instead of staying dormant like anyone elses who had mixed with the Hyuuga blood, it instead activated something else."

"So...what your saying is..is it the from Kyuubi?" My father asked tenatively, his worry evident.

"Well...yes and no."

"Whats that supposed to mean, Sakura? Yes and no? That doesn't make any sense!" My father exclaimed loudly, his worry translating to frustration. And to be honest, I could relate. What did that mean?

"If stopped being STUPID, maybe I can explain it!" Sakura exclaimed right back, this time at a volume about twice as high as my father. I fought the urge to reach up to rub my ears when she turned back to the scroll.

Sometimes my Aunt can be really loud...

"Now, it it YOUR DNA, Naruto, but because of the Kyuubis affect on you, it's affected you all the way down to your DNA. So when you passed yourself on to your son, the Kyuubi left a little too, and if you put Satoshi into a situation that you can bring up the Kyuubi without question, something similar happens," Sakura practically yelled

"Now, Satoshi, if you could come up here with me, please," Aunt Sakura said in an oddly sweet tone. It's kind of scary, how quickly her voice can go from scary to sweet.

As Aunt Sakura finished, she motioned for me. As I looked up to my father, he nodded, a grim expression on his face as he tunred to my mother. I looked to her, who looked even more worried than my father, as she tightly clutched the small baby in her arms. So too nodded, and I got up to move warily to the side of my Aunt.

"All right, Satoshi, activate you Byakugan so we can get started," Aunt Sakura said.

As I pulled the chakra to my eyes, I felt the all-familiar sensation of my eyes stretching as my eyesight increases to three-hundred and fifty degrees. The Byakugan now fully activated, I turn my focus from my parents to my Aunt, whose hands were glowing.

"Okay, now it's nomral, but when I stimulate the adrenal gland, much in the way that the body would whenever it's frightened or scared, this happens..." She said as she applied the glowing hand to my lower back, just above what looks to be my kidneys. And as she does, my body starts feeling oddly light. My heart starts beating madly, and I begin breathing in and out in deep, ragged breaths. And then, I start feeling something that is alien...but oddly familiar. That odd warmth...it was like back in Kusagakure.

I open my eyes to look at my mother and father, and in doing so I elicit a gasp from my mother. I look towards my Aunt, who looks into my eyes with an odd amount of concern. Well, she normally would be, but she is in her "doctor mode", so it's odd at this point. She points to a nearby mirrior, and as I extend my Byakugan, I see myself from the side reflecting in the mirrior.

Stupid Byakugan limits. I can't even see my own eyes, so I turn to face the mirror, and I look in shock of what had happened to me.

First of all, I look almost...wild. My hair has seemingly become wilder, my stance seems to have slumped over a bit (not unlike that of a whild beast, while blue wisps carry around me wildly and there almost looked to be thin lines drawing across my face. But when I looked into my eyes, something shocked even me.

The pupil of my Byakugan was red.

It was red!

How the hell did that happen?

**END**

**A/N: **Sorry about the long time between the last updates, but with not one but two trips under my belt in the winter break, I had my hands tied. Well, this is an odd addition, but it will be covered a bit more next chapter...plus, a little surprise that has to do with a certain thing that was big within the canon Naruto...

Hee hee hee!


	12. Challenges, Visits, and Surprises

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Challenges, Visits, and Surprises

**Info: **He as always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical significance and deeds, or can he forge his own legend?

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Twelve: Challenges, Visits, and Surprises**

So, it was something I couldn't stop. Whatever was happening to me, in the weird doctor lingo that Aunt Sakura has, was in my very blood and was most likely as much a bloodline as the Byakugan. Plus, I was able to get (again through the damn doctor speak) that whatever was happening to me may well be passed to _my _children, and become a bloodline trait in its own right. The start of a bloodline to distinguish the Uzumakis from any other clan in Konoha.

Wow. _Wonderful_ little piece of info here. So I'm even more of a freak than I was before and I'm most likely to pass it on to my kids. It's not something I should be worrying about when I'm twelve years old, but because I'm such a goddamn genius I understand exactly what the implications are.

So here I am, in the training grounds nearest my house. As far as I understand, it's pretty close to where my father became a genin, nearly twenty years ago...or something like that. I really don't want to think about that. I want to get this damn frustration out, and I'm doing it the way I know best.

I create a number of Kage Bunshin and beat the crap out of them, either one at a time or sometimes all at once. A form of stress relief that I had picked up from my father, and it was surprisingly helpful at getting out my frustration.

As another Kage Bunshin gets blown out of existence in a poof of smoke, my thoughts wander to what had happened. I grew a damn chakra tail and my mind became more feral. My Byakugans pupil, which is only distinguishable when I activate the power and even then is colorless, was a deep crimson when I looked into the mirror at the hospital. Although it disappeared when the adrenaline did, I couldn't help looking in the mirrors every chance I got, almost as if I was reassuring myself that they were the normal milky-blue I have seen since I can remember.

If anyone saw me now, they may assume I was narcissistic.

Finally, as I drove a jyuuken strike into the last of my clones (which normally would have been powerful enough to temporarily cripple whoever I hit with it, but it was a clone and as such went poof), I wiped the sweat from my brow and grabbed my clan jacket. In the cool summer evening, my activity had gotten me sweating and hot, so I really didn't want to put on the heavy material again. So I made my way to the clan house, looking on as I came closer to the small home that constitutes the budding Uzumaki home. As I came closer, I saw something that is all too familiar at the house.

My uncle Sasuke was sitting with my father, both talking calmly to one another as they shared a drink of some kind. But the topic of conversation, as always, makes either one or the other become much louder.

This time, it was my father who was the one to raise the volume of the conversation.

It's usually that way.

"What? Why are they moving this on US?!?" came my fathers voice, carrying in the cooling summer night.

"It's what Temari told me when I went to the village. Several of the villages sent representatives there, and they think that we should be the ones to host it now," came my uncles voice, his normally stoic voice raised in irritation.

"We weren't even supposed to host the damn thing until winter!" came my fathers loud retort.

"I KNOW that, Naruto, but do you remember who was supposed to host it at the beginning of July?"

There was no response that I could hear, but as I got closer, I could hear my uncle chuckling and my father muttering under his breath. I smile at this kind of behavior: this is the way my uncle and my father are. They sometimes can't stand one another, but wouldn't trust anyone else with their lives as readily as they do.

"Hey, dad. Hey, Uncle Sasuke," I said as I came to the main gates, allowing my voice to become louder as I came to the main gate. I opened and entered the grounds, looking to the two, both of whom who were sitting there with teas glasses (and judging by the small pool and broken glass pieces at my fathers feet, he had just spilled his) and sitting on the main porch. I walked up towards the door, but before I got to the main door I turned to my father and my uncle. They hadn't said a thing since I just got through the main gate, and it was piquing my interest.

"Umm...what were you talking about," I asked, keeping my voice more innocent than curious.

"Nothing, Satoshi...nothing at all. It's something important I have to talk to your Uncle about. Go on inside," my father said, his voice a combination of kind and warning, while bringing his hands up to wave at me slightly, as if to shoo me away.

His way of saying "It's none of your business" to to both me and Rika.

I sigh slightly as I slide the paper door open, and as I close it, my curiosity got the best of me and I silently activated my Byakugan to try to read their lips. It's a little skill I picked up from my uncle (I am honor bound to not say who it is, but just take a wild guess who it may be), and as I read my fathers lips my eyes went wide. I couldn't believe what I had just heard...er...read.

"_So be it. Looks like it will be Konoha hosting the next Chuunin exams."_

- - - - -

"What? That...thats amazing! I thought we weren't supposed to host the chuunin exams until the end of the year," came Mai-chans excited voice as we had gathered together for our training session...and Konohamaru-sensei was late. Again. Most likely, his flak jacket would be stained a milky white color somewhere on it and smell like a combination of vomit and pee.

Again.

"Yeah. We were, Mai-chan. But take a wild guess who was supposed to host it this time?" I responded, looking around for our tardy sensei.

"I'm guessing Kusagakure," came Shizuka-temes reply from atop the branch he had claimed as his perched, idly swinging a kunai around on a single finger as he gave out an exaggerated yawn. I shook my head in annoyance and continued to look around to find Konohamaru, and yet it was an indignant squawk from Shizuka that indicated that someone had surprised him. I turned my head to see him windmilling wildly before regaining his balance as a shadow appeared behind him. After a second, the shadow solidified to show our sensei.

Several of my predictions were right: He had a stain on the right side of his flak jacket that looked to be milk of some kind, and as the wind shifted he had a oh-so-wonderful odor of pee (okay, I didn't get the vomit part). But on top of that, he had large bags under his eyes and the way he carried himself told me he was exhausted. He was driven ragged by his new daughter, and I couldn't tell if I should feel bad for the guy or laugh at the awful state he was in.

Konohamaru-sensei yawned loudly as Shizuka-teme jumped down and joined us at the base of the tree he was just in. After a few seconds, Konohamaru-sensei yawned again before speaking up.

"Hello. We're going to forgo normal training for right now. We're going to work on chakra control for now, and there are two major ways to do it. The first would require water, so thats really not going to work. So, we're going to climb trees," he said, his exhaustion all but evident.

"What! How's climbing trees gonna help our chakra control?"

Two guesses who said that one.

"'How' is easy. Instead of using your hands, you'll draw your chakra to the soles of your feet. Once you do that..."

"Ha! I know this one! Lemme give it a try!" Shizuka-teme said as he charged forward while bringing his hand into a seal. Konohamaru-sensei gave a halfhearted attempt to stop him as he charged up to the tree and began to climb.

Shizukas climb was short, spanning an amazing four steps before gravities call sent him tumbling end over end and reaching earth with a solid "thud," ending his wonderful journey flat on his back. Shizukas hands went to the back of his head as he let out an excruciated moan

This is going to be a good day.

- - - - -

As the month wore on, I couldn't help but wonder: what was Konohamaru-senseis thoughts on us? Did he think we were ready. It may have been odd for me, Satoshi, but for the "Uzumaki Prodigy" that I was supposed to be it made sense. I don't know if I was ready, but Mai-chan and Shizuka-teme were excited. In fact, they had made a practice of making subtle (and some not-so-subtle) overtures to Konohamaru-sensei about the exam. But I was the devils advocate for their desires:We were not only genin, we were _first_ year genin. The exams will draw in the best of the best (for genin, anyways), and we may not have the skills to survive, let alone get to the final exams.

Mai-chan was too positive. Shizuka-teme was too stubborn. A wonderful combination. So we trained. And trained. And trained some more. I trained, but not only with them. I tried to call up the power in my blood. I know I was really confused by it early in the discovery of them, but I'm a shinobi, and any advantage I have I am supposed to use to their full extent. So I have worked on it, and with it I was able to stabilize a single...well, a single tail. And something odd: Whenever I unlocked the tail, Rika (in her excitable way) told me that my Byakugan gains a thing, red line through the top of it when I draw the tail forward. But this power comes with a price right now: Because I just unlocked it, Aunt Sakura says my body is still adjusting to the ability and it wears me out very quickly. So I wait for my breath to come back to me as I watched my sister practice jyuuken.

Or, rather, _try_ to practice jyuuken. She has had a little trouble adjusting to the change, and there were some times that she reverted back to standard taijutsu in the middle of the match. My mother would react and chide her, but I notice something interesting: there were a handful of times that my sister had managed to get passed my mothers guard. She wasn't skilled enough to take any advantage of it whatsoever, but it may be because my mother was expecting jyuuken and when my sister changed styles it made my mother had to adjust quickly, and sometimes that allowed my sister to get in.

Then again, my mother easily could be going easy on her. It looks to be that, but something is off...

I was to meet my teammates, so I had to get up and start on my way. So I look back to the training (Rika just got knocked over and looked to be a second away from cursing), I go on my way, not minding much anything as I'm going along to the bridge that we have decided to begin training at.

I'm almost there when I sense it. It's strange, but it's there. It's something with a large amount of chakra coming close. Carefully, I jumped upward into a nearby tree and peered towards where the chakra signature was, and as I peer, I see Mai-chan and Shizuka-teme at the bridge, and on the other side was...

No.

That's not possible.

I've only seen them dressed like that once, when they were genin. That was almost twenty years ago, and yet here I am, almost like I'm staring into the past.

Standing before me were the young versions of Kankuro, Temari, and, in the back with the gourd present, was Sabaku no Gaara. The twelve year old version of Sabaku no Gaara. I had to double-take, but when I put two and two-together I smiled slyly. I jumped down to the base of the bridge and walked up to my teammates, who looked to be just as dumbstruck as I was as the three came close.

"You know, if your going to use a genjutsu, you really should make it more subtle...Sabaku no Guuzou," I sad, smiling as I saw the genjutsu begin to waver slightly. After a few seconds, some chuckles were heard from inside as the genjutsu finally disappeared. In the place of Temari was a grim looking young girl, whose dark skin was mostly covered by black leather armor. Oddly enough, on her back, in place of Temaris fan was in fact a massive boomerang, a Sunagakure hunters boomerang. In the place of Kankuro was the tallest of the three, a boy who towered over me in the standard Suna white wrapping that was so common there, but on his back was a wrapped package that looked almost like Kankuros puppet. Finally, in the back, where Gaara was, came the chuckling of an all-too familiar voice.

"Well, I never was able to fool you, Satoshi-san," came Guuzous voice as he stepped forward. Instead of the short redhead, I see a sandy-haired, heavily built boy nearly as tall as the person in the white wrap-garb, a smile on his face. He was dressed much like his illusion, with the biggest difference being the gourd: in it's place was a heavy looking bag that looks stuffed. As I look up (I have to. The guy towers over me) he shoots glances to his teammates.

"Well, Looks like we been had, and by a rookie, no less," he says, his voice hinting at amusement. The girl scoffs at the comment, before turning to face us, her dark eyes flashing annoyance.

"It means you need to work harder on your genjutsus, Guuzou," she snaps back, a hint of accent in her voice as she readjusts her heavy weapon on her back. Guuzou shakes his head.

"You take these things way too seriously, Tounyuu. You know that, right?" came the deep voice of the third boy. Immediately, the girl (I'm guessing Tounyuu) turns her wrath upon the big man.

"Oh _really_, Kugutsu? Am I the one who looks upon Kankuro-sensei like a damn savior?" Tounyuu says, her voice promising anger to the other shinobi.

"What? Just because I look up to sensei doesn't mean you can insult _me_, you little..." came the big man (this time, I'm sure this is Kugutsu) voice when I was alerted to something behind us. I go to turn around when another voice calls through

"Thats **enough**, you three!" came the deep voice from what seemed to be high above us. I turn to see what looks like a spider towering over me with a man atop it. But when I see that the "spider" is made out of wood does the identity of who the man atop it become clear.

He is Kankuro, the puppet master of Sunagakure no Sato.

"K-Kankuro-sensei!" Tounyuu said, stiffening slightly as the man lorded over her atop his puppet.

"Kankuro-sensei, I'm so sorry!" came Kugutsus almost quavering voice as he went down to one knee, almost groveling at the sight.

"Kugutsu, you idiot! GET UP!" Kankuro practically yelled as he brought the puppet to ground level, as Guuzou and Tounyuu got onto the massive puppet. After a second (and some more groveling) Kugutsu ran on, almost falling down as he stumbled up the wooden face of the puppet.

"Sorry about my students strange behavior, Uzumaki Satoshi-san," Kankuro called as he pulled the puppet up and away. I could almost hear the gasps as the other genin recognize my name...and I wouldn't be surprised if they would then press Guuzou about knowing who i was and not telling them.

I turn to my teammates, and the same stunned expression is on each of their faces. I could hardly contain myself, and began laughing hysterically at the whole situation that just happened in front of me.

"That...that guy was the Kazekages son?" Mai-chan asked, her face still stretched into a funny (and very cute, I might add) state of confusion.

"Yep...that was him," I said between chuckles.

B-but that doesn't look anything like the Kazekage! Are they even related?" came Shizukas confusion ridden, slightly squeaky voice.

My laughter stopped instantly. He didn't know the truth about Guuzou?

"They aren't," I replied, my voice serious.

"Whaddaya mean, 'they aren't'. Thats Gaara-samas son, right?" Shizuka said, his voice now more careful.

"No. Guuzou was adopted."

The silence was deafening. And it kept going for another couple of seconds, the silence was ended by the sound of a weight dropping softly onto the bridge.

"Making new friends already?" came the familiar voice of Konohamaru-sensei, an obvious hint of amusement in his voice. I turned around to see him with a large smile on his face and a bundle of scrolls in his grip. I eyed them curiously as the other two looked on as well.

"Are those our mission scrolls, sensei?" came Mai-chans voice.

"No...not really..." he said oddly. It was almost like he was waiting to scream "surprise"or something.

What was going on?

"These...are registration papers."

I still don't have anything. What is he going on...

"Congratulations. You're taking the chuunin exams," Konohamaru-sensei said proudly.

**END**

**A/N:** Man, it's been a while. With school starting up again, not to mention writers block coming up on my other story. It sucks, but I was finally able to finish this chapter and now I can work at the gordian knot that has developed the other one. So, to hopefully get my juices working, I'll give a quick synopsis on what my thoughts on the popular pairings of Naruto fan fics.

**Any Yaoi Pairings: **Sorry, but no. I really can't see Naruto and Sasuke in any kind of romantic relationship, nor do Kakashi and Iruka...and..well, you get the idea. It's not because of any kind of homophobia on my part, but rather the fact that there really is no reason or precident for them to be gay. Even the two closest characters to this (Haku and Zabuza) seem to me more of a warped father/son relationship.

**Naruto/Sakura: **As much as I hate to admit it, there is a big possibility this could happen in canon...or so I thought until the wonderful little words Naruto uttered when he got back: "What do you mean? You look the same to me." This means that he has matured beyond that stupid crush, and he may just think differently of the pink-haired wonder.

**Naruto/Hinata:** As you _may_ have guessed by this point, I am a big fan of this pairing. Once you get passed the "hes a moron, shes too shy" problem, there is some serious potenital here. They both understand loneliness and disappointment, and their personalities are results of that. Loneliness is a powerful enemy, and the two could easily become fast friends and possibly lovers once one or the other (guess who I'm refering to here) realizes this.

**Sasuke/Sakura: **In many of the pairings I support, one philosophical thought develops: Male and female teammates get know each other far better than anyone else they may know. They fight together, face danger together, and spend long amounts of time together. This is a case for Sasuke and Sakura, with one minor difference: with Sakuras newly-reformed personality, one free (or semi-free, anyway) of Inner Sakura, could be an interesting dynamic to Sasukes loneliness-driven angst. Of course, Sasuke has to remove his cranium from its position deep inside his rectum...

**Shikamaru/Ino: **Again, another adhereing couple to my philoisophy of teammates, but in this cas eits even deeper. Hell, their fathers are drinking buddies together! They have known each other as long as the other has lived, and they argueably know one another better than any of the Rookie Nine know their teammates. Combine this with Inos strong personality and Shikamarus submissiveness, and you have the ingredients for a possible relationship.

**Shikamaru/Temari:** A common pairing, and one I could potentially see coming. Given Shikamarus personality, it makes sense for a woman of strong personality become his love interest. This is another reason why I support Shika/Ino, but in the case of Temari it could represent something to Shikamaru that is new and exciting, as it does for Temari (who also claims him as her most desired opponent)

**Lee/Sakura: **My second favorite Sakura pairing, should the angst-ridden idiot named Sasuke doesn't come around. Lee needs a bone thrown to him, people! There is so much love that needs to be given to the great Green Beast of Konoha, and Sakura is quite possibly the right person to give that love to him.

**Lee/Ten Ten: **Team Gai is an odd one: By my philosophy, this pairing makes sense, but unlike the pairings of Sasuke and Sakura and Shikamaru and Ino, Ten Ten seems decidedly neutral in romantic possibilities for her. She admires both and has faults with both, so it seems possible she could end up with either Lee or Neji.

**Neji/Ten Ten: **Again, with Ten Ten obviously looking up to both of her teammates, either pairing would be as likely, but as I do like the Lee/Sakura pairing, that would leave Miss Now-and-Again with the Hyuuga prodigy.

**Neji/Hinata:** Dear god. Who in the hell thought up this combination? Although it does make sense to marry within the clan, genetically speaking they are more than cousins: they are Half-Siblings! This makes the pairing all the more wrong in my eyes.

**Jiraiya/Tsunade:** Okay, this is a combination of two things: the whole teammates philosophy I have, combined with their 'history' with one another. I refer to _Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari_, where Tsunade is in fact his wife and (aside from this Jiraiyas perversions and Tsunades gambling) they both have much the same abilities of those stories.

Oh, and I finally came up with some names that are puns! Hurray for me!

**Guuzou**: Illusion

**Younyuu**: Throw

**Kugutsu**: Puppet

Hurray for me again!!!!


	13. The Exams

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** The Exams

**Info: **He as always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical significance and deeds, or can he forge his own legend?

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Thirteen: The Exams**

Well, here it is. Mai-chan is hopelessly elated at the oh-so-wonderful news that we we're supposed to be a part of the Chuunin Exams. As rookies. Shizuka is stupidly excited that we're going to be participating. As rookies. I swear, if she hadn't looked so damn adorable while declaring her happiness I would have been the first one to deflate her happiness, although I wouldn't have much trouble doing that to Shizuka-teme. Hell, we're rookies, and we're going up against the greatest genins the other villages have to offer. Hell, if Sabaku no Guuzou is involved, I know that we would be in trouble. Guuzou, for as long as I have known him, has been freakishly skilled with genjutsu. Okay, I know this strength is also his weakness (he tends to go overboard with his genjutsus), but even this fact doesn't help me much if I was to go up against him.

But, with all my self, berating, I couldn't help but think about the benefits. Hell, we're going in as rookies! Konohamaru-sensei had that much faith in us to sign us up for the exams, so i really shouldn't say anything to bring down my teammates hopes, let alone my own. So I should easily be positive, whistling a tune as I walked.

But why is it that, even as we walk towards the Academy to sign up for the chuunin exams I felt such a sense of foreboding?

As I made my way in, I could see the many different people around. There some that looked only a year or so older than us, although I do catch a glimpse of one or two people who looked a fair bit older than me. I was understandably worried.

Mai-chan and Shizuka-teme weren't.

"Wow...I can't believe it We're in the freakin' exams...we're in the freakin' exams..." came Shizukas almost wonderous voice as we made our way up towars...umm...

"Hey, Mai-chan, what room are we supposed to go to?" I asked, turning to see her face looking in absolute wonder around, her eyes wide.

It was really cute.

"Oh...umm...we are supposed to go to room 305. Where is that supposed to be again?" She asked, her eyes barely fluttering from the scroll telling each of us where the room was. I searched my memory for the room number...ahh, yes. It was on the third floor. The rooms on that floor were very large, and with the number of applicants here in Konoha it made sense that the proctors went to a large room like that. So as we walked towards the stairs, I was confident that we were going to be doing something that woas just asking for trouble, but under the worry was curiosity. After all, I was going to...

Huh?

What the hell? I had a feeling that we had just walked up to the third floor, but...something doesn't sit right with me. I...could have sworn that we had only gotten on the stairs, and yet I was feeling like we had already walked a little bit. Something wasn't sitting right for me, and as I looked at my teammates I saw that Mai-chan was looking around oddly. Like she felt something too.

Shizuka-teme wasn't so wonderfull.

"Hey, are you two coming!" Shizuka yelled happily over his head as he walked forward, towards a series of rooms that looked kind of large. I turned to Mai-chan, who simply shrugged before going forward herself. As I followed her, I began hearing what sounded like chatter ahead of us.

"...believe that their sending a genin team?"

"Man, am I nervous. I mean..."

"But I thought Kusagakure..."

"Hey! Outta my way, YOU BASTARD!"

As I rounded a final corner just behind Mai-chan, I saw several people standing in front of a room, whose number was clearly numbered as 305. The last voice I heard, which was quite a bit louder than the rest, came from a familiar person. The eldest son of my mothers second teammate.

Inuzuka Koga. The guy wore a deep grey hooded sweatshirt, the sweatshirt showing multiple seams and patches that were obvious remnants of holes and tears that had been sown together. He had his hood up, keeping his freakishly deep green hair mostly covered, aside from a stray hair or two sticking out of it at multiple odd angles of the hood. Kogas dog, a medium sized white dog at his heels, was growling menacingly at two of the other genin. These two genin were simply standing there, getting in the way of the rest of the students.

"Sorry, kid. We can't do that. Its out of our...," came the response of the first genin, pausing as if he was searching for the right way to finish the statement.

"Love..for you guys," the other genin finished...or, at least, I think he's a genin. There was something oddly familiar about this guy, but I just can't put my finger on it.

"Like hell, jackass! Get outta the way!" Koga snarls at the guy who just spoke up. He glares at the guy, then turns his attention to the other genins around us. After a second, he eyes us, and his irritated look immediately disappears.

"Hey, Shizuka!"

Oh hell.

"Koga, whats up, man! Haven't seen you since I became a genin. How are ya, man?"Shizuka responded, his voice reaching a volume that I really couldn't stand. I did notice several of the genin around here inching away from him.

I think I know why. The Aburames, with their secretive nature and love of bugs, have often been seen as a clan of weirdos. There had even been a number of stupid rumors and stories. About how the bugs will eat the user in the end. How the Aburames have no real eyes. Stupid stuff like that. I'm here to let anyone know this: It's complete horse shit. They have eyes alright. They are very dark eyes, possibly even matching the color of my Uncle Sasukes eyes.

"Well, you ain't gonna believe this. My mom's pregnant again!" Koga said, knocking my thoughts out of their track. I was happy about that. It was starting to piss me off.

"Again? How many is that now, six?" Shizuka responded.

Six? Wow. Well, I know its something my dad jokes about with my mom. How Kiba and his wife are the most...umm..."active"of their old class in raising children.

Wait a second. Where the hell are his teammates? Hell, they are my cousins and...

"Hey, kiddo. Didn't think I'd see you here," came a very familiar voice as a pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders. I looked over my shoulder to see the familiar face of my cousin Uchiha Kasumi. After she let go of me, I turned to see her and my other (blood, this time) cousin, Hyuuga Hizashi. Kasumi wore her normal clothes, the blue Uchiha vest and white shorts, although she wears the vest unzipped and wears a black shirt underneath that. Her purple hair is done up in her normal ridiculous way, with a ponytail coming out of her head on one side while the other is normal.

Hizashi, on the other hand, is wearing something odd for a Hyuuga. Instead of wearing the white shirt normal of beginning Hyuuga genin, he's wearing a long sleeved white shirt that looked like it was made of silk, in addition to a pair of brown shorts. His face, unlike Kasumis, was decidedly neutral, although he does nod at me.

Thats understandable. My cousin Hizashi has never been...well, the most expressive of people.

"Hey...hey, Koga, whats up with you? Helloooo, anyone home?" Shizuka said, turning my attention from my newly arrived cousins back to Koga.

I wished I hadn't. When I turned back, Koga was...well, he was glaring at me. I tried to turn my attention away from him, but then I noticed the genin who again rubbed my as off...and then I got it. The hair up in a ponytail, that oddly vacant smile, the way he carried himself.

I knew him. In fact I knew him well. And it was this that gave it away to me.

"So your back from your mission, eh Kakashi?" I asked, keeping my face neutral as I faced my cousin. Inwardly, however, I smiled and damn near would have laughed at the expression on his face. But that was enough to give it away, and judging by his partners expression, he was someone familiar with Kakashi and was obviously annoyed.

Ha hahahahaha! That was awsome. Now I knew that this was an illusion, the rest disintegrated around us. It was the second floor we were on, and the original forms of Kakashi and the other man showed, this time revealing an oddly familiar looking face. After a second, I recognized it as Nomura Kazushige, the third member of Team Sasuke and skilled swordman. He is decked out in the clothes that would normally identify him as a samurai, with the exception of the headband hanging from his belt identifies him as a shinobi.

"Hey, how'd you figure it out?" Kakashi asked me, sounding almost disbelieving that I had figured it out. I smiled and pointed to his feet, but then this simply puzzled Kakashi more. Kazushige scoffed at the display, then turned to me.

"So, the child of the Hokage, yes? You certainly have the potential. Just don't get overconfident, like Kakashi-baka here," he said, his voice clear and sharp. Kakashi simply glared at the swordsman, before the two simply disappeared in a poof of smoke. Suddenly, a loud, sharp laugh broke out behind me, and I turned to see Kasumi doubled over in laughter.

"Well, that was certainly entertaining," Kasumi said once she had stopped laughing.

"We gotta be going, okay? I'll see you in the exam, Kasumi," I said to her, but as I turned to leave she caught me in another hug. I smiled at her, but then a rough grab at my collar sent me reeling and I was literally dragged away. I looked as best I could to see Mai-chans hand gripping the collar of my jacket. When we had gotten to the stairs and were about to make our way down (or up. I'm not really sure, since the main classes were held in the second building and we had to get there), she let go of me and began stalking away. I could only give a sidelong look at Shizuka-teme, who simply shrugged at me.

What the hell was up with her?

I tried to follow along, clearing a set of stairs to try to catch up to Mai-chan, with Shizuka-teme in hot pursuit. I had caught up with her, when a loud voice declared itself to me.

"Uzumaki Satoshi!"

I turned my attention from Mai-chan and her really odd behavior to see a rather pissed looking Inuzuka Koga. He jumps down effortlessly, with his dog just a few seconds behind and landing next to him.

"You may have the white eyes of the Hyuuga, but you have the smell of an Uzumaki. A wonderful odor of ramen and ass. Plus, I think you were a little rude to me, since you didn't have the nerve to introduce me to you lady friend there," Koga said, a smirk on his face as he walked up to me...and passed me to Mai-chan, who looked absolutely bewildered.

"So, whats your name?" he said as he moved very close to Mai-cahn. Something WAY too close for my liking.

"Well well, aren't you forward? My name is Rock Mai," Mai-chan replied, her face gracing a little bit of a blush.

Wha...what?

"Rock, huh. Who woulda thought a guy like Lee would have a daughter that looked like you?" Koga asked back.

I wasn't going to allow this to go on any longer. This...this bastard was moving in on my Mai-chan! What the hell did the dog-whiffing retard think he could do with her?

Wait...**my **Mai-chan? Where the hell did that come from? Again! Now was definitely not the time!

"Get the hell out of here," I growled, my voice reaching a volume that I really didn't think I could get. This guy was pissing me off like no tomorrow, and it was high time the ass hole was out of here!

"And what the hell are YOU going to do about it, Uzumaki, fight me?" Koga snarled back to me, his face looking more feral than he was just a second ago. But that wasn't going to mess with me. It was time to take out the trash, and shit-for-brains here was going to be the first thing to be tossed! I activate my Byakugan and smoothly slide into the aggressive Jyuuken stance.

"What does you think the answer is, dog-breath?" I snarled back, easily keeping my composure, even when Kogas grin became even more feral when he moved away from Mai-chan, before whistling and calling his dog over. The guy wanted to get serious so soon, huh? Well, I don't think this guy can get passed...

My thoughts are interrupted by a fist going straight into my face and launching me skyward. I spinm to land right but as soon as I'm down the dog shoots forward from my left. I turn and launch a Jyuuken strike, but it twists out of the way and again Koga launches forward. He dives at me, but when i shoot my hand forward, he ducks and plants his hands on the ground, then twisting in such a way that his legs swing around, both knees drive into my left side and send my skidding.

"Satoshi-kun!" came Mai-chans voice, full of concern and surprise. Immediately, my anger began to disappear. Just what the hell...

"Shiroi, lets end this!" came Kogas voice, and then the white dog (Shiroi, I'm guessing)jumped on his back, quickly becoming another Koga. This Koga jumped skyward, while the first one disappeared in a blur before another fist caught me in the jaw, sending me skyward and towards the second Koga, who was beginning to draw chakra around his form and rotate. My eyes widened in shock, but then I felt a major spike in killing intent...and it wasn't coming from either Koga or Shiroi. In instead came from...well, at this moment it was a buildup of chakra that was forming to show a wild looking woman with three dogs by her side, each of them the size of a large wolf. I began dropping, not really able to move around well in the air. I came down at an odd angle, and I couldn't move my weight in time to make a steady landing. But instead of feeling hard wood below my fall, I felt something soft underneath me.I look up (or to the side, at least in my case)

"I...I'm so sorry, Satoshi-kun. I...I didn't mean for it...," She said, looking almost like she was in tears. I..don't don't get it. She was, well, I don't know what she was doing with Koga, but it had pissed me off, and..now she damn near crying! Gah! This day simply can't get any more confusing!

"I-I'm sorry, Auntie Han...Ah! Hana-sensei!" came Kogas loud voice as he almost grovelled at the feet of the woman in front of him, who, if memory serves me right, is Inuzuka Hana. But, she was also Kogas aunt, right? Is that even possible?

"You three! Sorry for my **stupid**student, so you three can go on your way. Go on, scoot!" came the really scary voice of Hana, and with that Team Five simply up and left, hopefully to no more bruises for me.

But as I walked away from the scene, something was bugging me. What the hell just happened back there between Mai-chan and I?

This whole thing was just way too much for me to take. I may be some kind of prodigy, but when it comes to girls I don't have a damn clue.

- - - - -

As we approached the correct room, I distinctly felt a presence near us. After a few seconds (and with a few sweeps of the eyes), I looked upward to see Konohamaru-sensei sticking to the ceiling. He smiled at us before wordlessly motioning to the door to the Exam. After a nod from each of us, we all went to the door.

This was it. This was REALLY it!

**END**

**A/N:** Well, this was a chapter long in the making, but I finally finished it. I think some of you may catch on to what may be happening with Mai, but we'll just have to wait and seeee. Heeheehee!

Anywho, like I have said in several of my stories before hand, this is now a single piece of the puzzle. This is the final piece, of course. This is the final part of the series, with it being the seventh part.

Here are the various stories. It is a little more final than before, but there is still a lot of work to be done on them.

Story One: A Sannins Struggle. Status: Brainstorm.

Story Two: The Gathering Storm. Status: In Progress.

Story Three: Tales of a Would-Be Jounin. Status: Complete

Story Four: The Grand Scheme. Status: In Progress

Story Five: Generations End. Status: Brainstorm

Story Six: Requiem for the Rokudaime. Status: Complete

Story Seven: Legends of the Past. Status: In Progress.


	14. Exposition

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Exposition

**Info: **He as always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical significance and deeds, or can he forge his own legend?

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Fourteen: Exposition**

Wow.

This was crazy.

As we entered the room, I could feel the tension. The aggression. The anger. And, as several eyes crane towards the back of the room, towards us, the looks become those of jealousy and opportunity. They recognize who exactly I am...and I know that I now have a massive target on my forehead. It doesn't matter that they come from many different villages. The various headbands glint back at me.

Konoha. Suna. Kiri. Kumo. Oto. Ame. So many different villages represented. So many different skills and levels. And now each and every one of them have target number one: me.

Isn't it oh-so-_wonderful _to be the son of the Hokage?

"Wow. There are a lot of people here-ack!" I began, but then an almost suffocating pair of hands wrapped around my neck. After a few seconds of trying to figure out what was happening, I relaxed a little bit. I was kind of surprised that _she _was here. Man, this was going to be a headache.

"Satoshi-_kuuuuun_! I can't believe you are here!" came the whiny, almost piercing shriek from behind me. I simply shake my head before I peer over my shoulder to see a shock of deep red hair. I can't believe _she_, of all people, was here to take the exam.

_This, to all who read this, is Uzuki Satoko. I really didn't know her that well, other than the fact she openly had a crush on me. She is always annoying me, and yet I'm too kind to simply tell her to bug off. If I didn't know better, I would think that she had no other reason to live aside from annoy me_

"Satoko, you really should take your hands off of Uzumaki. It's really annoying," came a sardonic voice, thick with annoyance and exasperation. I turned enough (Satoko was still attached to my back and was simply not letting go of me) to see two almost identical boys standing there, their clothes almost reminding me of Kazushiges samurai-esque clothing, albiet red and green for the one on the left and the one on the right, respectively. After a few seconds, I recognize them.

_These two are the Nomura twins: Yuuichi (the one in red with glasses) and Koumaru (the one in green). The Nomuras are known for their swordsmanship, and just like with their older brother Kazushige they aren't any different. They constantly bicker and fight with one another. Why the hell were they put in the same team?_

"Don't tell me what to do, Yuuichi! It's a decision thats up to my dearest Satoshi-kun!" She screeched back, before she tightened her grip back on my neck and (after a gasp for air from me) she let go with a huff (and myself with a deep breath. That girl can squeeze hard!) and moved back to her teammates.

"Th-thanks..." I said between breaths. Damn girl nearly choked me. From my position, I could see Shizuka-teme stiffen and ball his fists. My mind raced for a second before I got it. Even while I was still trying to catch breath, a smile of realization crossed my face.

So _that's_ who he was talking about back in the cottage.

The door to the examination room opened again, but with my back to it (and I really didn't want to use my Byakugan) I turned around to see several familiar faces.

"Well well, looks like they let you guys into the exam too, eh?" came the slow drawl of Nara Shigeru, as he idly scratched the top of his leg, leading in two other genin I know really well.

_Nara Shigeru could be best summed up in one word: bibliophile. He almost always has a book on him (usually in his hand) and often dealing with an extremely complex subject. He loves to read and is extraordinarily passionate about it, but is easily bored and moody if he doesn't have access to a book. Hes probably the one rookie smarter than me, but he doesn't like to show it. He'd rather be reading._

"Of course they'd let them into the exam! If one teacher let their rookies, they the rest of 'em would," said one Akimichi Saika, between the opening of a small package of snacks and then the consumption of two cookies.

_Akimichi Saika. One of the few girls in my class that wasn't stupidly fawning about me. She has one hell of a temper though, worse than Mai-chan, and often Shigeru is on the receiving end of this anger. She loves sweets, and will always be seen with a package of candy or cookies. She is a very passionate person, like her father (often about food but anything she gets interested in). A strange girl, for sure._

"O-oh...h-hello everyone," cam the quiet, nervous sounding voice of one Sonozaki Jirou, as he swiftly placed himself behind Saika and tightly gripped a piece of chain in his hand while shooting a nervous glance towards the other contestants.

_And last but not least, Sonozaki Jirou. He was the first person I got to know back at the academy. Hes a little mousy and gets nervous quick. He's always carrying around that damn chain, like a steel security blanket. Sometimes he can be frustrating, but can be cool at times. _

"So, the rumor was true. All the rookies of this year going for chuunin," Koumaru said, his hands idly gripping the pommel of his sword as the other hand scratched the side of his face. He seemed really bored, but I really couldn't tell. I never really knew the guy that well. In fact, they were a bit of the mystery to me.

Oh well. They're rookies, just like me.

The door again creaked open, and I payed little heed to it. After all, I didn't need another set of eyes on me, the "spoiled son of the Hokage" (I hate that label! My father made damn sure I earned every scarp of talent I ever had!) when something odd happened. The room went oddly silent as the eyes traveled from me (something I am very grateful for) to the new arrivals. Its only when there is a muted buzzing coming from Shizuka (something I noticed happened when he was extremely upset) and then a massive wave of killing intent from Mai-chan. What in the hell is wrong? I turned around to...

No. No way in HELL!!!

"YOU!" I snarled, my Byakugan shooting to life. How? How could HE be here? That bastard was back in Kusagakure!

And yet, here he is. The same pale skin. The same scrawny, almost gaunt build. The same everything. The only difference: instead of a bestial smile, a dark, foreboding glare, aimed in no general direction. Regardless of the look, it was still him: the one who had threatened someone important to me! The one who had impaled my feet with grass blades and threatened to rape Mai-chan! Rape her!

"Do I _know_ you?" came the bastards sarcastic remark. how...how dare him! The same fool is standing in front of me, and he dares act like we never even met! The fires, the very flame of my new power, began flowing through me as I began tapping into the new kekkai genkai. Most likely, my pupil was glowing red now, in sharp contrast of my light blue eyes.

"You _bastard_!" I snarled again, and I began to move forward, already feeling the burn in my body grow stronger. The bastards face was wonderfully surprised: seeing me come down on him like the wrath of Kami himself is a fitting image for anyone.

"I would suggest against that, Uzumaki-san," came the odd, almost serene voice...behind me? I instantly turned to face the new voice, a part of my mind jumping to the conclusion that the bastards team-members may be behind me. However, I stopped in what I could guess was mid-snarl when confronted with an oddly familiar face. After a few seconds, my temper cooled and I stared back at a face I knew for most of my life, although the whole time I was never the most comfortable around him. After all, with a father as expressive as mine its hard to find myself comfortable with someone who could barely express themselves emotionally.

"I-I'm so sorry, Sai-san!" came my pathetic response. I knew I shouldn't have reacted...but...

"Wait a second, he was the bastard that attacked us on our mission to Kusogakure!" came Shizukas response, his own hands balled up into fists while Mai-chan was in her standard fight stance with her eyes narrowed in anger. In return, the three members of the Kusagakure team in front of us were in their own stances.

It was at this point that I noticed something odd: the bastard I fought was not in any stance I knew. I knew some of the basics of Oroken, and after my fight in Kusagakure I had researched and say that the fighting style I fought against was Oroken. However, this was a stance that I did not recognize.

I am so confused right now.

"Before anyone decides to do anything rash, all must know that fighting in any way outside of regulated matches are prohibited," came Sai's oddly calm voice. This was one of those things that really creeped me out about the guy: he was so unaffected by this. My father once told me of Sais' upbringing, one of isolation and lack of emotion. But it creeped me out none the less.

"Next time you try to attack me, trog, I'll break you in half," came the genins hiss, before he turned to the others. "Come on, Nobu, Tsubaki. Let's find our seats and get away from the trog."

The other two nodded, both before glaring at me. I shot one right back, but inside I was confused. When they had gone to a blackboard

"Shizuka, Mai, you saw that, right? It was the same guy from Kusagakure!" I hissed under my breath. Shizuka nodded, and Mai-chans' eyes were following the interloper.

"That is not the team we fought, though..." Mai-chan started.

"Excuse me, Uzumaki-san, but aren't you forgetting something...?"

Wha...crap! Sai-san. But why was Sai-san doing there-

A huge roar cried out from the behind me. I turned quickly to see what looked almost like a black lion beside Sai, as it was recoiling from a roar itself. All eyes went to Sai, who stood unfazed by the attention. After a few seconds (and a few awkwardly silent moments) Sai moved towards the front of the room.

"Attention students. I am Sai, and I will be your proctor. All of you get in line and into your seats. We're going to start the exam."

Almost as if on cue, the whole room lines up, and as some of the chuunin watchers (my father explanation was more than enough to tell me what they were doing here, and what they were going to do) began passing out the exams and gave everyone their seats, I gave one glance back at the kid from Kusa.

Just who was he?

- - - - -

I have WAY too much stuff on my mind. First, the very fact I'm _in _the chuunin exams gives me a lot to think about. Second, the fact all the other rookies are in too. Third would be _his _presence (and I wasn't able to get the bastards name, either).

Fourth? That's easy: the very test I'm staring down at right now. The problems are intricate, challenging, and deal with a wide variety of subjects. The very first deals with trajectory, the second with an obscure shinobi battle from the Third Great Shinobi War, the third with tactics and protocol when dealing with foreign shinobi (down to the smallest detail of movement). All of them require a huge amount of detail and precision to get right.

And those are just the first three problems.

Those three I managed to answer with ease. The rest...I really don't know. I may be able to get one or two more, but these questions are almost all chock full of needed details and diagrams. I would need far more than the hour given to do so. I'm about twenty minutes into it already, and now I know something that kinda amuses me: whenever my father tells me about the time he tried for chuunin (my mother always laughs when he tells the story), he always glosses over the test portion. Looking at the test, I know why: he has almost no way of cheating without getting caught, and from what my Aunt and Uncle tell me about him at the time he wasn't scholastically inclined and would have been completely and utterly unable to understand the formulae and theorems needed to accurately answer the questions.

Just in case you need a translation, I said he didn't read and study enough to know the answers.

What's worse: my teammates are in completely separate areas from one another. Mai-chan is one row behind me and four people to my right while Shizuka is in the front row, to the far left of the seating. I'm near dead center of the seats, and to the right and left of me are a moody looking Sand nin and a terrified Kumo nin, respectively. The guy on my left has already taken three strikes, and looks damn ready to take another. The other one has answered one question.

Something has been bugging me about this setup, though. Why is there so much emphasis on not cheating, yet every time you cheat only _two_ points are taken away? It's a puzzle, and as I glance slightly to the right to see one of the chuunin looking down the row. His glance is sharp and concise, and when he glances at me, he keeps his eye on me, before turning his attention elsewhere. Then he looks towards me again. Why is there so much emphasis on...

Sai, you sneaky old man. _That's_ what you want us to do. From watching the amount of cheating (and easily getting caught, since I saw a lot of the chuunins pens moving) this was the focus of this exercise: To cheat without getting caught. And I have the perfect solu-

My pen begins to lurch and move about erratically. I stared at it a little bit, trying to figure it out. Suddenly, it goes taut and begins moving. I put it to the paper, and the oddest message shows up.

_Did I get your attention? RM_

RM? What is...wait. RM. Really Macho? Radio Munchies? Rocket Man? Wait a second...Rock Mai? Mai-chan? But how? Well, since I was going to use it anyway...

With my Byakugan activated, I began to make sense of it. It was hard to see normally, but using my Byakugan I could see it perfectly: A thin, nearly invisible string running from the top and bottom of my pen, with Mai-chans pen on the other side. With a small smile, I began tracing over my three answers. In response, I saw a small wink and a smile from her, and from there I decided to move forward with my...em...unique endeavor. As my focus swam from one side to another, I noticed several things that were interesting. Kasumi and Hizashi had high amounts of chakra focused in their eyes, meaning only one thing for them (I even remember when, after one of Kasumis C-class missions, she was so proudly displaying her newly acquired Sharingan to me and the rest of my family). Another funny thing was the small bugs I saw flying around.

Only one person would do that.

- - - - -

Twenty minutes into the exam and the first genin team, one from Oto (one of only three teams from there) has just been failed. Ha.

Jerks like that deserve it.

- - - - -

Thirty minutes in. With my Byakugan on, I am getting a lot of answers. One of the guys in front of me has tons of answers.

It's a damn gold mine.

- - - - -

Ten minutes remain for the test. As the hour wore on, far more people began filing out (the Kumo nin left about thirty minutes ago, while the Sand was marched out after getting caught and attempting to resist the proctors), the pressure was on. But, with the supposed "Tenth Question"...would it be as hard as Sai said?

Well, almost as if to answer my question, Sai began moving forward and writing down something on the main board. For a second, I thought that it really could be just a joke. The question he put on the board was so simple it was stupid.

It said: What are the first ten shinobi laws?

"Now, this is the tenth question," Sai said as he turns from the blackboard. "You are to name them off and-"

Sai is silenced as the whole room seems to be consumed with a low rumble. All the people left (from what I can tell, Shigerus team, Satokos team, Kasumis team, Guuzous team, and the Kusa-temes team, as are several Kumo, Kiri, Suna, and Oto teams are still in the room. Everyone looks around while I look towards Mai-chan, who shrugs with a confused look on her face.

"Regardless of what that was, I want you all to stay here and finish. I will go and check..."

Again, there was a rumble, and after a few seconds, the din of a distant explosion. Immediately, I activated my Byakugan, but what it showed me was extremely confusing. I wasn't seeing anything off, but I could have sworn that something was happening.

"Whatever you do, _stay _in this room or I will fail you," Sai again warned, but with his emotionless speech it was hard not too...Wait! Why the hell did it change from "stay here and finish" to simply "stay"? Is this what the last question supposed to test? Before I could put it together, several of the shinobi (most of them Konoha nin, but a handful of them from other villages) but one of the shinobi that I saw moving made my blood run cold: Mai-chan.

"Mai-chan, wait! Don't leave! He'll fail you if you leave!" I yelled. Mai-chan stopped, and as the last second, she pulls away from the door and it slams shut, and with a quick snap it shuts.

"Well, looks like we have our chuunin candidates," Sai said, his voice actually sounding amused.

**END**

**A/N:** Well, it took me long enough, but it has finally been finished: Chapter 14! Finally! Sorry I wasn't sooner, but I have been swamped at school (but not at work. They have me working 5 hours a week. Stupid bastards) and I hadn't been able to work on it. But now (with a little help from my beta) I'm done and ready to go! Yahoo!!!!!!

I'd write more, but I need to do some applications. Maybe Borders and Lowes...


	15. Survival Test

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Survival Test

**Info: **He as always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical significance and deeds, or can he forge his own legend?

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Fifteen: Survival Test**

"Wha...who...how...Huh?" Shizuka stammered along at the revelation that we had just passed. I, for my own stupefied part, simply stared dumbfounded at Sai as what he just said sunk in. Did he really mean that we just passed to the second part (or first part? What the hell was that earlier anyway?) of the test, just by staying in the room with the weird crap going on around us?

"Yes. Allow me to say this: when you are chuunin, you need to finish your missions. They are dangerous and there are many times were something unexpected happens. You need to hold your attention on your mission, no matter what is going on outside. The whole building could be quaking and be threatening to collapse around you, but in the end you need to accomplish your mission. This is what the last part of the test is: to finish your mission, regardless of what is happening around you," came Sais response, speaking in a louder than usual tone, as if he were talking to everyone, rather then just the dumbfounded Shizuka.

The whole time, he spoke with the same tone of voice and tenor. Kami be damned, this guy creeps me out! How the hell does he never change his tone of voice!

"Now, students, if you will..." Sais words escape as the farthest windows explodes in a torrent of glass and metal, as the metallic whirlwind slows, what looks like spinning chains begin to groan and strain as it slows. As the figure inside the metallic whirlwind slows, I begin to make out familiar features. The tall, willowy gait. The short, black hair. Yep. this could only be one person. The Kunoichi of Team Shichidaime (aka Team Nanadaime, aka Team Naruto, etc.).

Sonozaki Midori. Konohas Chain Mistress and (as I knew her initially) Jirous older sister.

"You are very excessive," came Sais voice, his face turned to Midori. Midori looked from him, then to the broken window, then to the students. Then, she gives out a loud, raucous laugh.

"I guess I overdid it there. Whoopsee...Alright! Now, those of you who have just passed the first part of the chunnin exam, follow me!" came Midoris loud, forceful voice as she dramatically pointed out of the room...and out the very window she just broke. A few of the other teams began moving towards the window when she turned to them, a confused look on her face.

"W-wait! Not out that way! Just...just follow me!"

- - - - -

Wow. I heard my cousin Kakashi talk about the the Forest of Death. There were supposed to be massive snakes, gigantic bugs, and even the occasional big cat in an expanse that was just two kilometers in diameter. It was a very dangerous expanse of land, and yet this was where the people who passed the first part of the exam was to take the second part of that exam in this very expanse of land. It is dangerous, at the very least.

And one retarded bug user couldn't be happier.

"I'm in the second exam, I'm in the second exam, I'm in the second exam..."

Shizuka-teme was walking on cloud nine and was sure to make sure every one in the clearing (and there were quite a few) had to know that he had passed the first part of the exam. But he was irritating me and...well, I couldn't really control myself. As soon as he pranced his way into my reach, I reached out my hand and (This was unintentional...Mostly) in a sharp movement downward, my hand smacked the back of his head.

"Calm down, you idiot. You're embarrassing yourself," I said, as the idiot recoiled from the smack in a hopelessly ridiculous way. In an instant, he turned around in a flurry of anger and opened his mouth.

"You jerk! Why in the hell'd you do that for?" Shizuka demanded, rubbing the spot almost tenderly, like I had actually hurt the teme. I simply shrugged at the question, and with a huff Shizuka turn away. I couldn't see his face, but most likely he was pouting like a baby as his hand still nursed the back of his head. Inside, I couldn't help but smile. That's Shizuka. Always annoying and childlike.

"All right, pipsqueaks! Gather around and listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once!" came the loud, forceful voice of Midori as all attention went to her. She stood at the main part of the gate and her face was nothing if not serious. Shizuka stopped his bellyaching immediately, looking at Midori as she was talking to us.

"This is Training Ground 44, better known as the Forest of Death. This is where the second part of the exam will be: a massive forest filled with huge trees, dangerous animals, and now, each and every one of you. This is a survival exercise, and this is where you will fight each other. Each team will get one of these," Midori said as she held two scrolls. One was blue and white, with the kanji of "Heaven", while the other was brown and white, with the kanji of "Earth" on it. After a few seconds, Midori lowered them and continued with her discussion.

"To pass this part of the exam, you need to get both an 'Earth' and a 'Heaven' scroll. But thats not all!" She said before turning around to what looked like an over-sized map. I cringed at the map (and also the oh-so-wonderful saleswoman wording she threw in) because, according to the map, there was a massive tower at the core of the expanse and it was most likely our destination.

"The large tower at the exact center is your destination once you get those scrolls. You only have five days to get your scrolls and get to the center of the forest to this tower. You need to sign some waivers and then you'll be good to go," Midori finished, before grabbing a bunch of papers off of a small desk that had been set up in the small clearing. I had a little smile of victory at figuring out where we were to go, but when Midori handed me a piece of paper. I had looked it over and was a little shocked at what it was.

It was a Death Responsibility Waiver

- - - - -

As the time wore on in front of our specific entrance to the Forest of Death, and as I stared down at the small, brown and white scroll that was our ticket to the big leagues...and quite possibly our own death warrants. And as of right now, it was the subject of much conjecture in our little group...almost all of it between Mai-chan and Shizuka-teme.

"I'm the one with a horde of BUGS under my coat! Theres almost no reason for someone to search me and that means I'm the best person to carry it!" Came Shizukas voice for the...one...two...eighth time. He was so damn sure his bugs would be sufficiently gross enough to keep any would-be thieves away from the hiding place of the scroll.

"And I would be able to adequately defend myself! I would be able to keep it from any attackers!" came Mai-chans retort. And in a few seconds I would put in my own input, _again_, and yet they would go back and forth.

"Mai-chan, just because you can defend yourself doesn't mean you can't be knocked out. Then they'll take it, and they _won't_ care if you can normally defend yourself. They won't even care that your a kunoichi," I said, exasperated. I was really getting sick of this.

"Look we only have a few seconds before the damn gates open, so what are we gonna do?" Shizuka said, annoyed. It looks like he was getting sick of this circling again and again. Now wasn't the time for the three of us to get disunited. Now was the time to work together in order to assure that each and every one of us made it to the final chuunin exam.

"But I think..." Mai-chan started, but it was at that moment I had had enough.

"That's IT! I have HAD it with this! Shizuka, YOU get the scroll. Mai-chan, should Shizuka get knocked out, run off as if you have the scroll. You're the fastest and, should you get away, mount a rescue. GOT IT!?!?" I yelled at the two of them. After a few seconds to regain my breath from that outburst, I looked at the two.

Shizuka was staring at me, almost like I had just jumped out of the bushes and bit him. His dark eyes were clearly visible over his dark glasses, and his mouth was slack open (almost comically) in shock. But when my gaze shifted to Mai-chan, I was shocked. She was staring at me like I had hit her. But what was worse was her eyes: they were glittering and looked like they were ready to begin spilling out tears.

"Mai-chan, I-I'm sorry, I..." I began, but Mai-chan simply turned away from me. Her shoulders looked almost like they were quaking, but after a second she quickly turned around and gave me a large smile and a thumbs up.

"That is a good plan, Satoshi-kun!" she said happily, but something told me she was not at all happy. Why was she acting this way-

In an instant, the gate swung open, and, after a few seconds, we all went through the main gates, Shizuka shoves the scroll down who-knows-where and leads, using his kikai bugs as a sort of bread (err, bug) trail, in case we get lost. Mai-chans in the middle, ready to some to the aid of either me or Shizuka-teme. And finally, I'm in back, my Byakugan sweeping left and right to protect us from ambushes. But, with the power of the Byakugan, I can see tiny little droplets falling from Mai-chans face.

Kami be damned. I am a cruel bastard.

- - - - -

Okay, so here we are, in the middle of a massive forest that held all manner of unpleasant things that promise death and destruction. I know that any kind of unscheduled stop would almost guarantee a battle of some kind.

Too bad my bladder didn't want to cooperate.

Now I'm leaving a wonderfully yellow trail (I'll give you two guesses, but I really doubt you'll need more than one) at the base of a massive tree, making sure my Byakugan is scanning enough to keep anyone from sneaking up on us (it's weird to be able to pee and see all around you). Yet my mind kept wandering to what had happened earlier. Why was Mai-chan crying? Was it what I had said to her earlier...I mean, I didn't think that she would be that affected by what I said. Hell, WHY was she so affected by what I said? What in the hell did it all mean? I'm supposed to be a genius...but...man this is so out of my league!

Gah! Why must women be so damn confusing!

It wasn't until I had finished my internal rant that I noticed something odd. There was an odd amount of sound, and I was catching glimpses of things from my Byakugan that didn't sit quite right. But, at that very moment, I was content to simply stand there at the tree and urinate. And Rant.

As I finished, I moved away from the tree to what looked to be a small stream to wash my hands. As I ran my hands through the cool current, I set my attention back to my comrades. We had been in the forest for nearly two hours now and we had yet to get any sign of any of the other teams out there. We were lacking a need to simply run around and run into some of the more experienced team. As much as I think of my, Mai-chan, and Shizuka-temes abilities, I doubt we would be able to stand up to Kasumis team, let alone Sabaku no Guuzou and his team.

If you ask me, I couldn't be happier. I don't mind at all the fact we have time to set up traps and familiarize ourselves with the terrain around us. It would give us the benefit in the long run, even if it costs us an extra day.

My Byakugan saw Shizuka-teme look downward to one of his kikai bugs as it reported in from its sweeps. It was at least something useful that he could do while we tried to establish a perimeter and allow other to come to us. Mai-chan, however, was tightly gripping a a pair of scrolls that both looked much like the large one I had seen Jiraiya use when establishing toad contracts. Was it a summing scroll? If so, Mai-chan usually had trouble using chakra. Would she be able to use them correctly? I mean, I don't want her to knock herself unconscious due to chakra exhaustion! Was she willing to put herself at that much risk to make sure that we got to the next part of the contest? That was dangerous! Why would she...

A slight amount of movement caught my eye at the edge of vision, to our left and up. As my attention began shifting that way, Shizukas head snapped towards the immediate front of the group. He turned to me, then to Mai-chan. No words were exchanged, but it was clear what was happening.

_Theres someone coming._

Mai-chan immediately got up and began scanning around, both scrolls still in her hands. I got up and turned to where I had seen the flashes. That had to be the way the group Shizuka had detected with his kikai bugs. It took a second for them to return to Shizuka, so we stood in position. With my Byakugan active, I saw three figures coming at as, and with their speed, it would only be a second before they overtake us. Judging from the headbands, they are from Kirigakure.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? A bunch of rookies from Konoha just waiting to get wasted," came the voice from the one in the front. He was HUGE! The guy, who had to be fifteen-ish, looked less like a person and more like a wall of muscle. He wore a kind of body wrap and on his back was strapped a long, straight sword that was wickedly curved. The other two genin that showed up had masks that looked gas masks and both were scrawny as all hell.

"Hey, Ushioji, to think we had all the luck!" came the muffled voice of the one to the big ones right.

"Yeah, well...don't get too cocky. Looks like the one in the middle is a Hyuuga. You know, the one with the white eyes that can see...wait a second. Why is that guy wearing orange?" came the other voice.

No! Did they already figure out who I was? This was going to be...wait. On the other side of my Byakugans vision. What in the hell was that? Is that... Oh crap. This situation just got more complicated.

"Everyone, kanji formation! Now!" I yelled, before drawing my attention away from the three in front to what was coming up behind us.

On the other side of our little opening, what I had feared was coming true. In a flash, three more people had shown up. From the headband, they were from Kumogakure and they were looking quite happy to see us...until they saw the Kiri shinobi on the other side.

"What the hell are _you _doing here? We saw the small fry first!" came Ushioji's voice in a loud, predatory tone.

"Hey! The one in orange has the Byakugan! The Raikage will pay us greatly for bringing someone with the Byakugan!" came a cry from the Kumo group.

Oh yeah. This is _wonderful_. Two teams, both of which look like they would be tough to fight by themselves, will be gunning for us (and in the case of one of them, ME!). _This_ was going to be oh-so-fun.

Pain in the ass.

**END**

**A/N**: I must apologize for the freakishly long wait between the last chapter and now, but I have been all but swamped. Last week was finals, and the week before that saw a huge speech for my Speech 1A class and a paper for my English class. it was certainly not at all fun. Hopefully this is good enough to make up for the wait.


	16. To The Preliminaries

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** To The Preliminaries

**Info: **He has always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical significance and deeds, or can he forge his own legend?

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Sixteen: To The Preliminaries**

Great. Thanks to a wonderfully orange clan outfit (and the gallivanting of some Seven Swordsman wannabe, most likely), there were now not one but two genin teams from two separate village, after _my_ head. It was two-to-one, at the very worst.

At the very worst. There is a skill I haven't used in a while that may well even the odds. Just one problem: would it be enough to stop them?

"Hey, Mai-chan, Shizuka-teme. Think we can take these guys?" I asked, my Byakugan blazing and reading the tenketsu and chakra flow of our opponents. As I look on, most of them are about our level. We would be able to handle them without a problem. But the big one from Kirigakure (the one with the ginormous sword) looks to be a big problem. His coils are rather robust for a genin and he is heavily muscled. And, just guessing by the massive hunk of steel that is his sword, he's skilled at close-combat.

Then there's the leader of the Kumogakure team.

His face was partially covered with facial covering, but my Byakugan is reading a lot of chakra...and what I am seeing is a bunch of it is swirling around him. I bet anything he's under some kind of genjutsu. It's not a problem for me, nor would it be one from Shizuka-teme (he finally has some use for his damn bugs), but Mai-chan would most likely have a problem. Not only does she not have any special way to see genjutsu, but on top of that she has weaker-than-normal chakra coils and she would have a much harder time to break it.

What makes it worse is that Mai-chan is the one closest to this man.

"Of course we can, Satoshi-kun!" came Mai-chans determined voice. I could see that her stance was just like her fathers. She is ready for hell, and yet she was most likely smiling, happy to test her limits and push them farther.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay. you? Not so much," came Shizukas voice, deadpan but showing all of the temes normal sarcasm and disdain. Outwardly I grimace, but internally I steel myself. This is going to be one hell of a fight, and now...

"All we want is the Hyuugas head! Once we have that, we'll leave!" came the loud voice of the Kumo-nins leader (de facto or not, he seems to talk for the group). This was starting to irritate me beyond all reason.

I'm an Uzumaki, not a Hyuuga damn it!

"No thanks. We want a damn scroll, not a head or a deal. Hyuuga or not, it doesn't..."

Oh, I have just about have had enough of this crap. That was the third time they have called me something that I am not. I don't care if they are all after me! I am sick of being called that!

"I'm not a Hyuuga, dipshit!"

With my Byakugan on, I could see the face of the Kumo-nin leader visibly retch back. In fact, all of the people that were in the two groups seemed to look confused at what I had just said. I inwardly smirked at the reaction, but I knew this was about to start, and if I wasn't careful, it would end very badly.

"I was wondering about his clothes...doesn't the Hokage have a wife that's a Hyuuga?" came the soft voice of one of the Kiri-nin.

Shit.

He just figured it out.

"He may not be a Hyuuga, but he has the bloodline. The son of the Hokage...so, you wanted the head and nothing else, right?" came the Kiri leaders voice. His face was stretching into wicked grin, and with my Byakugan I could see that his chakra concentration was slowly climbing. He was getting ready for a fight.

Time to to do a little bit of my own.

"I may have a Hyuuga for a mother, but my father is the Shichidaime Hokage and a jinchuruki to boot. The Byakugan came from my mother, and now I'll show you..."

As a hot, almost uncomfortable feeling came spilling from my center, I could see, with my Byakugan, the massive amount of chakra that has begun to spill out of my body, its normally blue color oddly discolored to seem a shade darker. But the storm of chakra coming out of my body was more than enough to see normally, and as my focus turned from the retards surrounding us (whose faces go from triumphant to confused) to my teammates: Mai-chan looks over at me, a smile on her face and a thumb up while Shizuka simply nods, a smirk on his face. My hand come up almost instinctively into a familiar cross-shaped hand sign.

"...just what my father has given me! _Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_"

As the chakra is molded into the jutsu, I can see as the small area around us suddenly become blurred as the clones pop into being. One second before, the clearing held only three people. Now, over twenty stood. And a good eighteen of them were dressed in orange and black.

"What in the hell...?" came the swordsman utterance when I began moving. Two of my clones ran forward in a blur, as I came up behind them. My target was the masked Kiri-nin to the left of the swordsman. In a flash, the two clones had managed to stop the use of the major muscles in his arms and legs and effectively paralyze him (at least, for a while. I'm not _that_ cruel) An instant later, as that member of the team was slowly making his ascent to the ground, the other two members struck. With Byakugan blazing I saw, simultaneously, the swordsman swinging a sword from my left while the other teammate went skyward, disappearing. I instinctively ducked, but the first two shadow clones weren't as lucky as the blade sliced and blew them apart. As I swung around, a kunai flashed out of my blind spot and I was forced to move out of the way, rather than counterattack the swordsman. In an instant, one of my clones is on the man, closing two of his tenketsu while two more clones jump towards him.

As the swordsman finishes recoiling and turns to swing again, I turn my body and swing my right leg towards the shinobis hands. He pulls his arms back, avoiding my kick while also swinging his sword into the branches above the two of us. As small branches and leaves begin to fall, I use my kicking leg to spring myself up and, with a quick back flip, land in a crouching position facing the Kiri-nin.

"You're better than I thought, short stuff," the swordsman said, his face stretched into the same sadistic grin as before. Jeez, if this guy had pointed teeth, he would look like a walking shark.

"You're worse than I thought, dobe," I said with a smirk. He sneered before charging at me, his sword readied for a stab. I pulled my head back to avoid the blade, before it swung again, this time downward. I spun, gritting my teeth as I felt the edge of the blade etch a thin line into my shoulder blade.

"Oh...that's just the beginning of your pain, you little bastard!" came the man's voice again, and yet, something was up. What was going on? He seemed to have vanished...but, that would mean he was behind me, right? I swung my head quickly so that my Byakugans blind and shifted my weight, but as soon as I turned I could see the sword flash as it was pulled ever closer to my back. Time seemed to slow down until, with the seconds achingly long, the sword made deep contact with the small of my back.

What could only amount to pain shot up and down my back? Well, for a second it seemed like nothing happened. Then, in a flash, my back felt like it had just been opened up for surgery. The pain...The Pain...it wasn't like a kunai slash or a slight impaling. It was pure and utter Agony. Agony was no longer just some idea, something you said when you had a sprained ankle and happened to walk on it wrong. No matter what I did, this pain was very real. And now, as my legs refused to respond and try to fight the pull of gravity from the tree, I was pulled awkwardly down. I could hear a shriek, but my concentration was gone.

So was my Byakugan.

I felt oddly blind as I crashed into a small bush with a crunch, the wind from my lungs being pushed from my chest as I came into contact with the hard ground. But, what made this...oh...six or so seconds was the fact that, in the whole time from the slice to my impact, I could not feel my legs. I tried desperately to move them, but...well, they just weren't responding.

A shadow loomed over me. I looked up to find the hulking Kiri nin swinging his sword around, red blood dripping down it. My blood.

"You retard. You gloat, and now look at you. Your down and out, and now you'll have to watch as my blade comes down and slices your head in too," the bastard said with the sickest grin on his face. in a flurry, he brought up that cold hunk of steel he called a sword, readying himself for a last blow.

The blow to end my life.

I don't know why, but I could only look at the blade of the sword as it seemed to slow. Like the whole world was slowing to watch my demise.

_I can't believe it'll end like this, _I thought as the blade inched towards my face. _I failed Shizuka-teme. I failed my family. I failed Mai-chan..._

"_Konoha Sennpu!_"

Time seemed to speed up as the guy held the sword back, stopping his downward swing just in time for the side of his head to be violently kicked sideways, sending him flying into the nearby underbrush. I looked up to see an angel clad in green stand in front of me.

Mai-chan. She stood over me, her eyes are full of concern as she quickly squatted down and started to lean over.

"Satoshi-kun! Hold still, I'll get you to..." Mai-chan started, but a quick rustling of underbrush send both our eyes to the Kiri-nin, who was sprinting out of the brush and straight towards Mai-chan. His sword was brandished and he had nothing less than murder in his eyes.

"You BITCH!" he yelled as he closed. Mai-chan instinctively jumped back as the sword tore into the ground where she had just stood. My eyes were on her as she stared down the bastard, taking the stance of her fathers fighting style.

"How dare you, you kunoichi wanna-be. How DARE you injure me, bitch! Was it 'cause I broke you little boyfriend?" came the Kiri-nins demanding question, his sword low and his stance threatening.. Mai-chan didn't respond. She simply glared as she shifted slightly. The swordsman must have taken that as his time to strike, because as soon as she shifted he was off like a shot, his sword dragging on the ground. His swing came low, kicking up mud and grass as his strike went wide of Mai-chan. Mai-chan responded by crouching low and sweeping her legs in a quick roundabout to the mans legs. He brought his sword to the ground and planted it, missing the sweep by mere millimeters as he hopped over using the sword as a counterweight. Mai-chan plants her foot, pushing off to send her fist skyward and into the guys chin.

It was in an instant. A stray kunai drew Mai-chans attention away from the skyward bound shinobi, who had melted and warped, the result of a Kawarimi. Mai-chan had turned, turning her attention away from her fight to have the Kiri-nin charge her, aiming to take off her head.

I can't stand to watch. As the heat boils in me again, that sure anger that swelled through me as I was helplessly staring at Mai-chans imminent demise. I was angry at not being able to do anything.

I was _ANGRY!_

I can't really describe what happened in the next few seconds. One moment, i was down on the ground, paralyzed, about to watch Mai-chans head get chopped off. Next moment, I'm in _front _of the blade, its sharp blade cutting into my palms. My hands are swimming with chakra, and the Kiri-nin looks almost dumbfounded as the blade barely cuts. My Byakugan is blazing, and from behind me there appears to be a lot of movement. But, regardless of the movement, my mind screamed one thing, in an almost primal fury.

_BASTARD! He hurt me and was about to hurt my MAI! I'm gonna tear out his guts by HAND!_

_I'M GONNA KILL HIM!!!_

I instinctively pushed the sword back, and the blade tore itself from the Kiri-nins hands. Before he could react, my punch sent him flying into the base of a tree. I let out a low snarl as I crouched down and took off in a sprint, fighting the urge to reach down and run on all fours. In an instant, I hit him in a rush and we went rolling through the underbrush at amazing speed. It was a blur of speed and pain, as each hit and stab he gave me was returned with swipes and strikes of my own.

It was only at the last second I saw the ancient, decrepit tree that the two of us were barreling into. In a flurry of movement, I positioned myself opposite the tree and drove my feet into the Kiri-nin. he let out a strangled gasp before it was silenced by the impact with the tree. I made a sweep with my Byakugan and made a very pleasant surprise:

A scroll. And, if memory serves me right, it is the one we need. I reach into the compartment he carried it in. But, out of curiosity, I turned my focus from the scroll to my back. How the hell am I still moving? Even if it was shock and not true paralysis, it would take a bit longer for my body to recover. Just how...

As my focus changes, I'm greeted with two surprising things: the cut in the small of my back (all of my woulds, too) have healed over. But the second part surprises me. When I normally unlock my Uzumaki bloodline (which I haven't named yet. I'll need to think of one soon), a single, sinuous tails of pure chakra forms from the bottom of my back. however, I stare not at one but two writhing tails of chakra.

_Have I..._

My thought process is interrupted by what sounds like footsteps. I turn and draw a kunai, but I stop when I see Shizuka supporting Mai-chan and walking towards us. I sigh and let myself calm down, allowing the bloodline to dissipate along with my Byakugan.

"So, how did it go?" I asked.

"We knocked out the other Kiri nin, while the Kumo-nin ran off. We didn't find a thing on either of the guys left on the ground," Shizuka said with a bit of pain in his voice. I could see that he was limping slightly, a wound on his thigh a likely culprit. Mai-chan was smiling, but here eyes were oddly unfocused

"Well, it's because I got it now," I said with a smile, showing the scroll triumphantly, ",but...uhh...what happened to Mai-chan?"

"Well, while you were getting to second base with the swordsman there, the last Kiri nin used a genjutsu to catch her unaware and bashed her in the head," Shizuka said with a bit of a grin. His face looked a little bruised, but he seemed okay.

"Alright. That's one issue down. Now, we just have to make sure we make it to the tower," I said, looking farther into the forest. We had to be close to the tower. We HAD to!

- - - - -

I must have been a combination of exhausted and severely retarded when I though we were close to the tower. We had spent the better part of two days searching for the base of the damn tower, and yet we seemed to just walk in circles. Stupid me had thought to have seen a flash of red the night before, but I was severely mistaken. A rather straight and bald redwood was the psudeo-tower I saw, and we spent the better part of the night avoiding another team that happened to think the same thing as me.

I'm annoyed. I'm bitter. And now I have to sit back and watch as Shizuka adds to my annoyance with his grumbling. So, i do the thing that I think makes most sense: get him as far away from me as possible.

"Whaddaya mean 'go look for food'? I did that an hour ago!" Shizuka angrily demanded, glaring daggers at me.

"Because you found absolutely nothing edible! I was puking for the better part of ten minutes thanks to those damn mushrooms you found!" I yelled back. It was his fault I got sick, and I'll be damn sure he'll make it up somehow!

"Will you two stop? All this fighting is worth absolutely nothing!" Mai-chan said from behind the two of us. I turned to her, about to make a retort when I noticed something odd behind her. It was nothing really; little more than a rustle of movement. But, as I silently focused my eyes to the spot, I noticed a sliver, a small glint from the foliage.

It was all I needed to know.

"Run!" I yelled, watching as the glimmer disappeared and became a slightly formed shadow. Shizuka and Mai-chan obliged, darting off with me into the density of the forest around us to lose whoever was stalking us. It was literally the blind leading the blind through the devils forest, as our team made move and counter move in order to make it possible. My Byakugan flaring and my Uzumaki bloodline burning its way to the surface, I could easily see that the number of tails behind me numbered two again.

Interesting, but I'll have to think about that later. I have to lose this guy fast and i know just how to do it.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," I call out, watching as ten clones of myself pop into existence and make their way back, in the way of our pursuer. Jumping skyward, I swing my Byakugans sight to the back, allowing its focus to shift to where I thought the pursuer would come from. unable to see anything, I shift my focus back to the front, and nearly lose my balance in jump to what I see in front of me, no farther than forty meters in front of me.

The Tower!

"Mai-chan! Shizuka! Follow me!" I yelled, making note of their reactions as I shoot off towards the tower itself. In a flash, the tower looms and I'm now looking at the main door of the tower. I smile, and as I see Shizuka and Mai-chan land nearby, I smile at the realization that its almost over.

That smile was quickly gone. I feel several of my clones vanish, and one face...or rather, one mask, is visible in all of the now destroyed clones. The mask of the Kumo-nin leader.

"Quick! Get inside, now! The Kumo-nin are about to get here and they mean business. I'll hold them off!" I said, keeping the vision of my Byakugan as far out as possible.

"Satoshi-kun, I'm not gonna abandon you!"

I nearly fall over when Mai-chan says this. I swing my head reflexively around, focusing on her large, expressive eyes. But, even as I stare at her, I idly think that she must have her mothers eyes. Such wells of chocolate brown don't exist on her father

"We all need to get inside, remember. We all need to get inside, remember?" Shizuka said seriously, an angry buzz emanating from his cloak. I shake myself out of my daze long enough to turn my attention back to where the Kumo-nin was supposed to be coming from.

Out of the nearest underbrush came charging out a single figure. It wasn't the whole squad. It was just the one, the leader of the group who had confronted us the same time the Kiri-nins did.

"Your eyes are mine, Hyuuga!" the kid yelled as he barreled towards me, his eyes showing through the thick goggle he wore. They shined of pure greed, the desire for my eyes.

"I told you before..." I started, about ready to shoot forward with a Jyuuken strike when suddenly my tails began pulling me ins what I could best describe as a spiral motion. After a few high-speed rotations, I had gotten noticeably sick and my motions were wobbly. I hadn't even noticed that I had stopped moving until after a few seconds of dizzy swaying. I looked around and saw the Kumo nin in a heap about two or three meters away from me. His breathing was shallow, but regular. I looked at Mai-chan and Shizuka.

"What...what the hell just happened?" I asked. I only got a shrug from Shizuka.

Well, whatever happened would have to wait. We found the tower, and now it was time to start the next part of our test!

**END**

**A/N:** Well, well it has certainly been a while. Between AX (where I not only cosplayed as Asuma but managed to see Transformers the day before it was supposed to come out), school, and just a total lack of inspiration on my part. I have no clue why it happened, but it did.

Any who, here are three pieces of info dealing with what has happened between the last chapter and this one:

1) Anime Expo 2007 was (with some issues dealing with layout issues than Expo problems itself) awesome. I went for all four days with three of my friends and my fiance, with my sister joining me on occasion. I actually cosplayed this year, as the late, great Sarutobi Asuma. People said I made a good Asuma, with three major issues. One, I'm a bit big to play him. Two, my flak jacket was camoflage, not the olive drab that the chuunin vest is supposed to be. Three, I often didn't have a cigarette. I'm not a smoker and I was not going to pay $3+ for props. But, one thing that was cool: I met up with a buddy of mine who was cosplaying as Kisame, and he did a damn good job. Most likely, if you see a combo picture with Kisame and Asuma from AX 2007, it'll most likely be my buddy and me, respectively.

2) For some reason, this years summer movies are surprisingly good. Despite a lackluster starter (_Spiderman 3_ was such a disappointment), it kicked off well besides that, with the crown jewels coming at the end of June and beginning of July. I talk of two films in particular: _Live Free or Die Hard_ and _Transformers_. I saw _Transformers_ at AX and _Live Free_ about two weeks later. I have yet to see _The Simpsons Movie_ or _Rush Hour 3_, but I have heard really good things. Hopefully I'll see those two soon.

3) This is an issue with me, but it affects each and every one of you, my readers. I'll be starting school soon, and I'll be looking for a job as an Instructional Aide. It'll take up a good amount of my time, and combining that with 16+ credits in this upcoming semester, my update times will look much like this one. Where I would get out a chapter roughly 6-8 weeks, it'll most likely take me about three months before I can get another chapter up, like it had been for this last chapter.

Well, thank you all for reading. Unfortunately, it'll be a little while before I can get back to this.


	17. The Battle of the Kekkai Genkai

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** The Battle of the Kekkai Genkai

**Info: **He has always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical significance and deeds, or can he forge his own legend?

**Disclaimers: **Narutoand the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahaha cough sputter wheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Seventeen: The Battle of the Kekkai Genkai**

"Whoa...this place is huge..."

Shizuka may have been the one to blurt out that useful piece of advice, I couldn't help but agree. We had gotten into the building with hours to spare, but I didn't have a damn clue as to what we should do. We had two scrolls, a large building that we were supposed to get to, and on top of that we had no clue what to do.

"Well, we were supposed to open them once we got here, so why not do that?" Mai-chan asked. I nodded, but mentally I'm slapping myself in the head for not thinking about it. But, my mind had been elsewhere. I'd been thinking of what happened in the forest. That Kumo nin had been charging at me, and as I had gone forward with a Jyuuken punch, I had been pulled into a spin. The question was, why? I somewhat understood the extra tail. Sorta. It must be kind of like the Sharingan, gaining more power whenever the user was in danger or under great amounts of stress. There were still questions (like, why another tail, rather than just more power). Aunt Sakura said to expect strange things to happen while it develops. It could do just about anything at this point while in development.

Still, it annoyed the hell out of me.

Shizuka pulled out the scrolls from his long jacket, and as he pulled them out broke the seal on them and unfurled them both. In an instant, the scrolls reacted to one another and drew together. After a few seconds, they disappeared and, in a poof of smoke, a large figure appeared in the thick smoke. As it dissipated, it revealed a familiar face. One I hadn't seen since the end of the Academy.

"Udon-sensei!"

- - - - -

Now, it all makes so much sense. The scrolls and the forest. Everything! The scroll was to see if we had the capability of holding onto an important document or objective, while at the same time testing to see if we were capable of being able to take the same thing from enemy shinobi who were protecting their own. The forest was a way to test our survival skills, seeing as missions don't always go to plan and often shelter in the wild is the only way to survive. On top of that, the prohibition of looking at the scrolls beforehand was to test to see if we had the willpower to resist looking at the objectives beforehand. It was simple, brilliant, and altogether ingenious...

...and I wasn't able to figure it out!

As Udon-sensei led us to the main arena, I was angrily stewing that I couldn't figure out this wonderful little detail. I know I shouldn't beat myself up, but it has always been a problem of mine. Whenever I wouldn't get a technique, it would frustrate me to the point of outright anger. There had been one time that I remember when my father was teaching me the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, when I was nine. It took me the better part of a month trying to figure out how to do it, and my father had told me on occasion to not let the frustration get to me. It was an advanced technique that could take me the better part of a year to master, he had said. Although I had eventually figured out how to do it, I had gotten so damn frustrated at the jutsu I had had taken a page out of my fathers book, swearing and angrily yelling each and every time I came up with a weak Kage Bunshin.

One of the few times I'm like my father, and I have a bad influence on my little sister. Now she does the same exact thing.

As we were led into the main room, I was flabbergasted at the amount of people. With a maximum of thirty possible people, I instead stared at a ridiculous amount: with three people a team, that meant that seven teams (including our team) had made it. And what made it worse was the fact that five of the teams I recognized: two were the other rookie teams, one was the team the team one year above us (the one with Kasumi, Hizashi, and Koga), one was Sabaku no Guuzous team, and the last one made me mad as hell.

It was the Kusagakure team.

"Ah, I see we have another team. Come over...Mai?" came an all too familiar voice from beside us. As soon as I heard it, I turned to Mai-chan, whos' eyes had become saucers at the voice.

I know what's coming next.

"Papa!!!!!" Mai-chan shrieked as she ran into the open arms of her father, the green-clad taijutsu master Rock Lee. Mai-chan looked to be balling as large tears leaked out of her fathers round eyes. It looked all too ridiculous, and the fact that everyone in the room began looking over because of Mai-chans shriek just made it worse. I could feel my face contorted into a confused expression, and with a glance over to Shizuka I could see that I wasn't the only one who felt ridiculous just by watching this strange spectacle.

"Oh, my sweet little dancer! I'm so glad to see that you made it!" came Lees-sans emotional voice, quivering as large fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Oh, Papa! I'm so glad to see you here!" came Mai-chans emotional response, her eyes deep brown saucers that somehow managed to grow two sizes in the seconds since the teary "reunion".

As my father had once said, when I had told him about Mai-chan, "The Rock family has a lot of strange little quirks. You should just get used to them now." Now that I think about it, I shouldn't be surprised. Ever since I first met Mai-chan to this very moment, I should have been preparing myself for this kind of outburst.

Now, all I can do is stare at the strange scene before me.

"Lee, you know there aren't supposed to be tears here. Get a hold of yourself," came another familiar (if far more serious than normal) voice. I instantly recognized it as my own father, and as I looked to where the voice originated (it was on a nearby ledge that overlooked the arena) I saw him in all his glory. His Hokage attire screamed authority, while his stance and very presence exuded confidence and power.

I often saw my father when he wasn't at work. He was able to be the great (if slightly goofy) father who would often over-react and drive my mother to giggles because of his antics. He would teach his children how to do simple ninja tricks and shower them with love and support for what they wanted to accomplish. This was not my father in "home mode". This was him as a way that I rarely saw myself, and it often was when I was brought to meet foreign dignitaries and for village events.

This was Uzumaki Naruto, Shichidaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. This was the shinobi, the man who pushed the Rasengan to it limits, making it into the Rasen Shuriken and, eventually, the Tanshinko. He is the one who stood in defense of Konoha more times than I can remember and still managed to stand victorious. He took the power that had threatened the village over thirty years ago and turned into a force for the village.

"Sorry, sir," came Lee's voice. I turned my attention back to Lee, tearing my eyes from my father. Lee had straightened up, and Mai-chan was standing ramrod stiff at his side with a salute. I smiled at the scene. Mai-chan was so serious...and that just made her look adorable!

"Well, if your team can take its position here with the group, we will begin in a little bit," Lee said as he motioned for us to stand at the rear of the group. We walked over to it, and to my surprise they had me just behind Shigeru and to the left of Kasumi.

"Hey, kiddo. I'm surprised you made it," Kasumi said from her place beside me. I looked to see that her long purple hair was singed and matted and her face bruised and scraped. She must have gone through a war to get here. That must have really sucked.

"Why are you so surprised? I _do_ have the Byakugan and Jyuuken, after all," I shot back. I know Kasumi is just trying to prod at me. She always tries to prod at people whenever shes worried.

"I guess so, but your just an _itty-bitty_ rookie..." Kasumi shot back, her grin designed to grate at me. I simply smirk back, and in a huff she turns away, knowing she just lost. Oh, it's _so_ easy to get under that girls skin. I hear a snort from Shigeru, and I know he's been listening in to my conversation.

My father cleared his throat from his position, and in an instant all the attention of the room was on him, raptly awaiting the words of the Hokage.

"Prospective genin, I would like to share a few words with each and every one of you. I understand just what each and every one of you has just gone through, the blood and fear and exhaustion that must be burning away at you. But, in spite of all those things, you have persevered to make it here. I commend each and every one of you here."

My father takes a deep breath, his eyes trailing from one side to another

"However, I had not expected so many of you to pass. With twenty one people here, it makes it extremely hard to say that not all of you will make it to the Chuunin Exams in one month from today. Before we can continue, anyone who is not willing to proceed allow themselves to be known now."

Wait...as in someone who wouldn't want to go on. They have a choice? I mean, I know that I'm among serious talent. First of all is Guuzou, who is supposed to be the best genjutsu specialist that Suna has produced in over a century. The only reason why I can tell is simply because Guuzou has a bad tendency to be overzealous with the genjutsu when they are supposed to be subtle. I have seen him when in a match, when he had just become a genin. He had so totally entrapped the person he was facing that it was even a problem for Temari to interrupt it. Then there is Kasumi. She is skilled in taijutsu, like her father, combined with her training as a medic-nin and monstrous strength, which she gets from her mother. Hizashi, who is not quite the level of genius as Uncle Neji, is formidable, and is almost as good with weapons as his mother. Its kinda scary to think that someone better than me at Jyuuken can also pin me to a wall with senbon at twenty meters.

Should I? I know my father would be disappointed, but...well, I had just spent several days in a forest starving and running for my life? Would I even be able to make it? Would I...

No.

I can't think like that. Not _now_. No way in HELL!

"Looks like none of you will be backing down. Now, if you can turn your attention to the screen, we will now choose who will be given a by."

What the? A by? You mean to tell me someone is gonna be given a by just for standing here? I turn my own attention away from my internal argument to look at the screen that has just appeared to the left of a large pair of hands shown in the Tora hand sign. Once the panel that had been blocking the screen is gone, the screen flashes to life as names fly by on the screen at a staggering speed.

Within a few seconds of terse waiting, the flashing stops and a single name shines from the screen.

Shamisan Nyu. Who in the hell is that?

"Yes!" came a cry from the front. It was the team whose village I wasn't able to identify. The shinobi, a young girl who looked about our age, turned to us with a satisfied smirk, the whole while her affiliation showing.

Oto. Kami, like we really needed someone like her to the person to be given a by.

"Shamisan-san, you are given a by. However, you are still bound to the rules of this tournament preliminary. Do you understand?" my father asked, turning his attention to the girl while fighting (quite hard, as I could tell) to keep a neutral face.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand," the girl responded, and immediately I wanted to put my hands to my ears. Kami, that girl has a grating voice!

"Hokage-sama. I, Rock Lee of Konohagakure no Sato, will act as the chief examiner of this, the Chuunin Exam Preliminary matches. Now, may I direct the rest of you back to the screen, where the combatants will be chosen at random. Once the two combatants have been chosen, the rest of you may go up to the stands above the field. now, this shall be a true shinobi fight. Any tool, any technique that you know may be used. This shall be, for all intents and purposes, a fight to the death. Should one of the fighters become incapacitated and unable to fight by my discretion, the fight will be ended and the one standing will be declared the victor," Lee said, walking forward to address the group.

In my mind, I had been wondering why he was here. He had no genin team, but as the examiner, well, that made sense.

As my eyes drifted back to the screen, I wasn't quite paying attention, letting my attention drift around me. Even if I stood my ground, there are a lot of people here that would be a major challenge to face in combat.

A buzzer sounded, signaling that the two names for the first match had been chosen. I focused and turned to face the screen, and what I saw stunned me beyond belief.

_Uchiha Kasumi vs. Uzumaki Satoshi_.

Oh crap. Her? Of all the people...man, there is only one person that could have been worse than Kasumi, but even then I would rather face someone from Oto, someone whose techniques I didn't know and whose face was unfamiliar. But Kasumi? As the people around me began thinning and made their way to the overhead stands, my gaze was locked on Kasumi. Her face was decidedly neutral, but I guarantee that she was feeling just as torn as I was at this very moment. She and I had grown up extremely close. Hell, we considered each other cousins and had played with each other since we were old enough to walk! She had been a family member to me, and now I have to face her as an opponent.

On top of that, if I think of this strategically, she has a lot of things going for her. After all, she _was_ an Uchiha, and had access to the Sharingan. She knew several high level techniques, including the Gokaykyu and Sakuras monstrous strength. Hell, I wouldn't put it past her if she had already managed to learn the Chidori!

My main advantages? The Byakugan and Jyuuken. All good, but it means that I'd most likely have to face her in close combat, where I could easily fall prey to her strength abilities. If I stay back and use my Byakugan, I could fall prey to a Gokaykyu or face the blazing fast charge of a Chidori.

What about my kitsune abilities? A wild card in my favor, but I dunno...

"Well, can you believe this, kiddo? The two of us, facing off here?" came Kasumis voice. My gaze drifts towards her. Her face is...well...confused. And concerned. She was someone I grew up with, and now I have to fight her to possibly become a chuunin. Its...a strange feeling.

"Well...are ya going to give up, or what?" She asked, an oh-so-obvious sign that she was feeling confident.

"Well, I like the sound of the 'or what.' After all, the oh-so-great Uchihas really haven't done much since they were re-established..." I said slyly, letting it trail off. If I was right, this would get her infamous temper going. In fact, if my guess was right, in oh say...three...two...one...

"You DAMN well better keep my family out of this, Uzumaki. YOU come from a loser and a backwards clan who brands those not in power!" Kasumi yelled out, her voice low and menacing. Internally, I was worried because she could _really _hurt me. However, should I piss her off enough, she acts a little like a crazy person. A crazy person that, while very fierce, is rather uncoordinated and unable to plan.

Time to provoke the crazy person.

"Oh...I'm sorry...were you saying something? I just couldn't keep myself from yawning," I said, while making an exaggerated yawning movement.

"YOU'RE **DEAD**, you little **PRICK**!!!!" Came her extraordinarily aggravated voice. Okay...I ring my eyes back in her direction, and immediately it feels like the the temperature falls by about ten degrees. It was the "Dreaded Uchiha Death Stare", as my father called it: a combination of Uncle Sasukes deep scowl and my Aunt Sakuras aggrivated glare.

"Uhh...well...if the two of you are ready to begin, then...start!" came Rock Lees voice as my attention was entirely on my cousin. She was furious. I had little more than a second to slip into a standard Jyuuken stance before she comes flying at me with little abandon. Even without her Sharingan, she is extremely quick and within seconds shes in my face throwing a forward kick.

But, with my Byakugan now blazing, I simply smirk as, while she flies over me as I bend backward, I manage to shut off a handful of tenketsu at the overhead leg. With my expanded sight, I could see that she landed rather uncomfortably behind me. However, she was up and I had quickly turned around, my hands flashing into that most familiar of hand signs.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_," I called out, feeling the chakra spill out of me and reform in a flash as four exact clones of myself. As two of them ran forward to strike out at my cousin, the other two stayed back, looking at me for ideas.

And, boy, did I have one.

"You, stay with me. You, help them out," I said to my clones, talking to the nearest and farthest, respectively. With Kasumis legs an issue, the clones were doing remarkably well against her. As the third ran forward to assist the other clones, the last one stayed behind, and as I gathered chakra I knew that this would truly cement my status as genius.

I had gotten the idea from the many times I saw my father gather chakra in his hand and mold itself into a perfect sphere. As it gathered, some of the chakra went from normal chakra to a wild kind, dancing and spinning like a miniature hurricane. I had tried and tried to do it, but I never really got it right. So, I improvised. And, it led to an interesting creation. One I can call my own.

The clone that stood back, pushing chakra into my hand as I started to to pull my stance back into a standard jyuuken striking one. As the chakra in my hand spun and sharpened, the wind elements of it tightened and swirled. It was almost time.

"Kasumi, time to meet my new toy! _Fuuton: Jyuuken Hari no Jutsu_!" I cried as the justu began to complete itself. As I thrust my hand forward, the wind funneling chakra in my hand solidified into thin, chakra needles. They flew forward, and within an instant they would hit Kasumi and this whole thing would be over.

"_Katon: Gokaykyu no Jutsu!_"

Oh, hell...fire beats wind.

My clone roughly grabs the hem of my jacket and flings me to the side as the fireball envelops the clone and where I was standing just seconds before. As the fire died down, I could only look at where Kasumi stood.

She was glaring at me, the bright red Sharingan staring back at me.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

**END**

**A/N:** After a lot of craziness and running around all of the nearest big city, I have finally found enough time to finish up this chapter. I threw in a nice little curve ball at you. Hopefully, you'll like it!

Now, for my post-story babbling, something occurred to me during the last couple weeks: I am a huge fan of Metalica, and with its many songs, there are many that have odd correlations with Naruto characters. Now, this is by no means a complete list, but here are some of the notable ones I can think of right now:

Naruto/Haku/Kimimaro - One

Sasuke - Fade to Black

Kakashi - Ride the Lightning

Jiraiya - Fuel

Orochimaru - King Nothing

Tsunade - ...And Justice for All

Anko - Don't Tread on Me

Gaara - Enter Sandman

Kankuro/Chiyo/Sasori - Master of Puppets

I know there are a lot more that I can draw from, but I'm feeling tired and/or lazy. Maybe someone out there in Reader Land can help me out with that list...


	18. The Battle of the Kekkai Genkai Part 2

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Battle of the Kekkai Genkai Part Two

**Info: **Many people have said that he is a prodigy, that he has the making of legend in his earliest days. But as the trials and tribulations of shinobi life have begun, will he become what everyone expects or can he be something he has only dreamed of: his own person?

**Disclaimers: **Naruto and the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Eighteen: Battle of the Kekkai Genkai Part Two**

There have been two important things that I have been taught by my father, things he likes to call the "Uzumaki Laws to Life." Among these laws the normal things Uzumaki Naruto is know for espousing: hard work, happiness in the face of danger, and never giving in to helplessness and despair. There are two lesser known laws that my father has created that I have come to heed quite fervently. These two laws read as follows: "Never willingly entice a woman to be angry with you. You will regret it." and "Never cross an Uchiha who has his Sharingan active. You will end up getting beaten to a bloody pulp."

For most of my life, I (either consciously and/or unconsciously) followed these rules. I had often seen his rules followed through to many times where a womans wrath had been focused on me. Well, as of this moment I am now breaking both of these rules. One Uchiha Kasumi, an Uchiha _female_, is now glaring with two bright red pinpoints known as the Sharingan blazing in my direction. I have just broke two of my fathers "laws to life", and what they predicted may just happen.

Just wonderful. Just how the hell am I gonna explain to my father I lost to an Uchiha? Wait...he's right...Since it would be in conjunction with two of the laws, a loss wouldn't be too bad...

"Eyes on me, Uzumaki!" came Kasumis venomous voice. She only speaks like that when her temper is under the thinnest veneer of control. She was the kind of person to hold in a lot, and when she snapped there was _hell_ to pay. It wasn't clean. It was _guaranteed_ that it won't be pretty. And I was stupid enough to try and provoke it.

"I was too soft to start, _Uzumaki_, but its now time for me to let loose and thrash you. Hope you don't feel too bad," Kasumi hissed, shifting her position to a traditional Uchiha fighting style. As my focus was on her, my body automatically shifted to its own traditional fighting style, the Jyuuken. My Byakugan scanned the her tenketsu again, seeing that I had in fact closed a few on her legs. However, they were minor compared to some, and now because of my little bit of mercy to my cousin has led me to be on the receiving end of the Uchiha wrath.

Sometimes, I think I'm just to nice for my own good. It gives me a headache, and right now that headache is really pounding.

In a flash, my cousin shifts her body, My attention is square on her again, but theres something very different about her stance. Instead of using that Uchiha style (I can _never_ remember the name of that style) her stance is something far more familiar, and that familiarity makes my skin crawl a bit. Her right hand is straight forward and slightly bent with her palm open towards me. Her other hand is at her waist, palm forward and fingers slightly curved.

A Jyuuken offensive stance? How in the hell does she...duh! Stupid me forgot that she's on the same damn team as Hizashi and has the Sharingan! She easily could have picked it up from there!

In a flash, shes on the move, making a bee-line straight for me. I shift, bringing my stance into a counterstance against what looks like a straight attack. But at the last instant she leaps upwards and delivers a spinning heel. I block, the the momentum knocks me off balance for a split second. In the split second, I see her plant herself and give me a sweep. I try to jump out of the way, but Kasumi is too damn fast and I go tumbling to the floor. An arching foot swings down, obviously aimed at my head, but this time I'm fast enough to avoid it and roll away. Ignoring the throbbing in my head, I right myself and try to go on the offensive.

Key word there is try. In an instant, she bats away my offensive hand and delivers a spin kick straight into my abdomen. Damn, that hurt. It didn't help with my headache at all. In fact it made it worse. My whole head feels like its on fire, and now is not the time to be looking for aspirin or anything like that.

Why does my head hurt so much right now? It was fine just before the match.

"Keep your head in the game kiddo, I want to make this look good!" Kasumi cried with quite a bit of gusto. There was a nice little sneer on her face as she stood there. Deep down, I started to get ticked off. She thinks this would have been **that** easy? How dare she. I had her on the ropes just a few seconds ago.

In this anger, the heat from my headache begins to stretch out to the rest of my body. The headache itself seems to start to dissipate. This is really starting to confuse me.

"Too slow, kiddo," came Kasumis voice again. However, as she ran in, she saw something that seemed to surprise her and she instantly stopped to push forward.

"Satoshi? What...whats wrong with your eyes?" Kasumi asked, her guard going down a little bit. Her eyes have gone from calculating to concerned. Was there something wrong with my eyes? There was that hot sensation, but it got rid of the headache, but I don't see what that would have to with the fight.

Unless I activated the first part of my kekkai genkai...or the second one I have, anyway. I know that it does mess with my eyes. Could that be what just happened?

"It's something new. I'll explain it to you afterwards. But _Kasumi_..." I began, the last part of my sentence turning into a growl. I could see her visibly flinch at the growl. In a flash, I'm now on the offensive, moving faster than I thought I could just seconds before.

"...you need to **keep your head in the game!**"

My first attack, a straight strike, was deflected with ease, but it was a feint. The instant my strike was knocked to the side, my left hand was on the move, going straight for her solar plexus. Kasumi shifted enough to avoid the straight shot, but the attack still connected and Kasumi backed away, shock and pain evident on her face.

"You...you hit me!" Kasumi stated in shock.

Well, yeah, that's _exactly_ what happened. Why was she so shocked about it?

In an instant, the temperature seemed to drop. Kasumis shocked face had turned into a face a pure anger. Why was she so damn mad?

"You hit me in the breast, you pervert! How dare you!" Kasumi yelled, her anger palpable in the arena. However, it didn't phase me. The confusion did. I went for the solar plexus, and she shifted to my right. She still got hit, but I didn't feel...wait.

The solar plexus in just below the heart. When Kasumi tries to roll away at the last second, she tends to bend her legs to give herself extra momentum. With the slightly lowered chest area, it would have hit her...Oh. I did.

Oh well. All's fair in love and war. And this sure in hell isn't love.

Kasumi cracked her knuckles, her face an absolute epitome of rage, before moving again. She dips her hand into her kunai pouch and lets one fly. I drop low and make a hand sign. In an instant, two more of me run towards her as I reach into my own pouch for a kunai and some string. I tie the string quickly and let the kunai fly. One of clones catches it and thrusts it at Kasumi. She dodges and lands a blow that causes the clone to disappear in a cloud of smoke. The second clone, using the smoke as cover, grabs the kunai again and lets it swing around the string again. With the string now encircling Kasumi, I pull on it, encasing her in the string and leaving her a target for a barrage of Jyuuken strikes from the clone.

That is, until Kasumi does an ax kick and ends that clones existence. Grabbing another kunai, she quickly cuts the string and throws the kunai. I dodge it and sprint towards Kasumi. Her hands flash with her own hand signs, and the chakra she has begins to coalesce at her mouth I can guess what shes going to do.

"_Katon: Gokaykyuu no Jutsu_!"

I knew it! As the fire begins to shoot forward, I use my chakra to reinforce my feet and I launch myself into the air. The fireball rolls harmlessly under me, and my balled up fist makes contact with Kasumis face. She staggers, but regains her balance and jumps away.

"You've gotten good kiddo," she said, panting from what I could see as a lack of chakra (thank you Byakugan). I simply nodded in response, but I knew that she was nearing her end. I was really low of chakra myself, but when I got mad, my headache went away and my chakra seemed to regenerate. There is a problem with Kasumi just being out of chakra: she is extremely skilled at taijutsu, and this will make the fight longer than it should. there should be a way to end this, and quickly...

I got it! Sorry, Kasumi, but this is going to hurt.

"Hey Kasumi, this has been fun. But it's time to end this. For this, I'll break out something I've been saving!" I called out as I let my second kekkai genkai roar to life. My eyesight tinted red and my Byakugan faintly registered two constructs of chakra ( my "tails") from behind me. Kasumis eyes widened as it roared to life. In a flash, my hands flashed into a familiar cross shaped handsign of the Kage Bunshin while, powered with the high amounts of chakra created by my secondary kekkai genkai, I pour as much chakra as I can into the jutsu.

In a flash, there are now dozens of clones of myself standing in the arena. A quick sweep of my eyes can gather I have 63 clones of myself standing in the arena. Perfect for I plan to do.

In a flash, a dozen of the clones whip out shuriken and kunai and let them fly as another dozen of y clones (plus myself) flash forward, all of us intent on one thing: Victory. Kasumi is able to deflect the shuriken and kunai, but there so many things flying towards her that she is unable to concentrate as the clone in front of me comes flying at her, two fingers aiming for a specific part of the body.

"_U_!" Cry out some of my clones.

I hold back and as the clones that reach her hit, they explode into clouds of smoke, obscuring the vision of her Sharingan. Another dozen or so leap into the fray and Kasumi is pummeled

"_Zu_!" Call out some more

With my Byakugan, I can see that Kasumi is in a state of shock as another bunch leap at her. The twitching in her legs tell me shes trying to fight the temporary paralysis, but isn't doing so well.

"_Ma_!"

As the clones explode into nothingness as their purpose is fulfilled, the smoke has become so thick that not only is she blinded, but the people observing the fight now are unable to see what is going on. Lee in particular tries to see what was going on in the smoke, but to no avail.

"_Ki!"_

As the last of the clones vanishes, I myself enter the fray. I rush with all the speed I can towards my cousin, who is now reeling. But, even with the assault she just took, she has gained enough control of her body to cock her hand back and send it in my general direction, most likely looking for one last blow before she goes down herself.

"_Hakke Rendan_!" I cry as my final blow shoots forward toward Kasumis _hari_, looking to disrupt her flow enough to effectively end the fight. But, in my rush, Kasumis fist somehow had jumped right into the front of my eyesight and was headed right for my face.

SMACK!

The smack was sickening. My hand made contact first, but Kasumis fist made its mark and connected with the right side of my face, just below my eye. I see a flash of red and a lot of pain begins to flower from the point of contact. My eyes, now Byakugan-less, begin to water in the pain, and my body wavers a little bit.

For several long seconds, there is silence. The smoke around me and Kasumi begins to dissipate, but I can see her clearly. She has many red welts where the skin is visible, she is covered in a thin layer of ash and sweat, and several bruises mar her skin.

And yet, even as her eyes seem to dim, she is smiling.

"Nice...fight...kiddo," She says in a very soft, pained voice. As soon as the sentence ends, she closes her eyes and pitches forward. As gently as I can, a catch her in mid-fall and begin to lay her down. It is that moment that I notice that someone is standing next to me. I glance up and see Rock Lee standing there, an oddly blank look on his face. The smoke has now dissipated, and it is now evident what just happened.

"I declare the winner of this match...Uzumaki Satoshi!" He yelled loudly, shaking the impartial face with one of a broad smile. I smile weakly back, but as I pull myself up I find myself oddly slow and wobbly. Lee shots his hand out to balance me as the medic nins come out of the back room in their traditional white robes. They quickly load Kasumi on to a stretcher and take her back while one begins to fuss over me. I know that, when used right, any kind of damage done by the Jyuuken is supposed to be temporary unless the user decided it not to be. I sure in hell didn't want to cause permanent damage, so I know that Kasumi will be fine there. It's just...well, strange to see her like this.

As I make my way back to the grand stands, I see a lot of looks. Surprise. Amazement. Awe. But there was another look I got, one from two people in particular. Something far more sinister than shock.

Anger. Her teammates were furious that I had beaten her, but both know of the relationship her family and mine have. They are most likely shocked that I would do this to her and this fuels the anger they feel for their teammate being beat all the more.

But, why are they so damn surprised?

As I feel the glares of Koga and Hizashi from the other side of the arena, I felt three pairs of eyes in particular that I found very comforting compared to. Konohamaru-senseis appreciative gaze, Mai-chans delighted eyes, and even Shizuka-temes surprised look were comforts for the aching and genuine exhaustion I was feeling at that moment. Mai-chan walked forward, mouth open as if about to say something when Lees voice rang through the room.

"The next match will now be chosen."

My gaze went from Lee to Mai, and then I looked to the massive screens to the left of the massive hand sign. Names were flashing quickly on it, but before long two names were flashing large on the screen. in my exhaustion, I was unable to focus on the names until the moment someone walked by me. It was the red-headed girl that was always bugging me. I saw the slightest hint of a wink as she made her way past me, and as she made her way down the stairs I looked back toward the screen, my eyes straining to bring the screen into focus.

_Uzuki Satoko vs Sabaku no Guuzou_

Oh...boy. That girl is gonna get slaughtered.

As I find a comfortable spot to lean against the wall (man, my chest is killing me! Kasumi must've bruised a couple of my ribs) I glance down at the match. Lee was moving the two combatants towards each other. Guuzou, doing quite the job of emulating his father, was looking impartially at Satako while she had her chest puffed up and looking like she was going to take this without any problem.

Death wish, anyone?

Any who, as I'm watching the two get introduced to one another I heard a voice rise up from the arena. It was Satoko, and it seemed a bit...odd.

"...regardless of who..."

Straining my ears, I move from my comfortable spot from the wall and move towards the railing, trying to catch what this (extraordinarily arrogant and stupid) girl was trying to say.

"...know I don't stand a chance, but I'm not just gonna lie down and take it! I am the daughter of Uzuki Yuugao and I will not simply BOW DOWN TO YOU!"

Whoa. I wasn't really expecting that at all. From what I can remember of this girl, she had always been haughty and annoying. There were even a couple of times where, in her arrogance, she had the gall to challenge Mai-chan in a taijutsu competition during our first year. Mai-chan thumped her pretty soundly, but this girl had tried everything on almost anyone she could, just to get attention for herself. It's one of the reasons why I had tried to stay as far away from her as possible. But, in doing that, did I simply ignore someone who was simply trying to prove herself in a generation marked with several children of village heroes?

If my line of thinking is correct, she's just like how my father was when he was growing up: a sad, lonely child with few friends and a burning need to prove themselves to the world, regardless of how they do it.

Crap. Great. Wonderful really. I miss the first part of the fight because I'm trying to sort all the experiences I have had with her in my mind when I feel a familiar molding of chakra. Its thick in the air, and as I look, i see something that scares me to my core. Guuzou has his hands forward, his eyes full of focus. Even as hes dodging attacks from Satokos long knife (The hell? When did she pull that out?), I see what look almost like an ethereal pair of...um... things appear behind Satoko. As they begin to manifest, my mind snaps back to a memory...

_"Guuzou, you need to be careful with this. It's a powerful genjutsu that simulates a direct attack to the recipients organs and nerves," came Temaris voice from across the courtyard. I break the grip from my moms hand and stare directly at the stout, golden haired boy who is practicing jutsu._

_"Mom, isn't that whats-his-name, Uncle Gaaras son?" I call out enthusiastically. My mother, heavily swollen from her seven months of pregnancy, turns to see who it is. _

_"Yes, Satoshi. His name is name is Guuzou. He's training to be a shinobi, just like his father," my mother said as she turned to gaze on the boy. he looked like he was only a year older than me, maybe two tops. As Guuzou practiced with his partner, he seemed to be trying a specific jutsu._

_He looked like he needed help. Maybe I can help him out. Everyone says I'm good with chakra n' stuff, so maybe I can - Suddenly, the temperature drops, even though it has to be at least bazillion degrees in Sunagakure. My eyes focus on what looked to be two ghostly..._

_Hands? What good're hands for, unless..._

_Whatever I was thinking soon disappeared. The hands plunged deep into Guuzous partner and, as the hands seemed to grab and hold at the boy, The boy began screaming and crying like someone was hurting him. but was it the hands? I mean, Guuzou was having trouble with it, wasn't he?_

_It was only when Temari ran forward, attempting to end the genjutsu did I realize: Guuzou had hurt that boy. Badly._

Almost as if from a dream, I come out of the memory and instantly I'm afraid. Not of Guuzou, he was just as scared about what had happened to that poor boy. it was for her. Satoko was trying to prove herself against the son of the Kazekage, and she was about to get completely destroyed.

It was then that I heard Guuzous voice call from the arena. the hands were fully formed and shot forward, aimed directly at Satokos back.

"_Kibou Te no Jutsu_!"

**END**

A/N: Wow, it's all dusty in here. Well, hello fellow fanfictioners!, I'm finally back out of a hell called "two jobs and full time student"!

Well, that and I went on a _massive_ comic book bender over the last few months. Its because of my damn interest in _The Dark Knight_ that first started it, then I was introduced to a true piece of art, both in terms of the photo-realistic painting and the beautifully crafted story. This, my friends, is the graphic novel known as _Kingdom Come_. It is beautifully written, beautiful to look at, and beautiful all around. The artist is a guy named Alex Ross, and if you saw his drawings and paintings you would swear your watching a scene from a movie and not reading a comic book. It's _that_ damn good! Speaking of that damn good, if you haven't seen _Dark Knight_ yet, you need to go see it. In IMAX, preferably. It's awesome.

Anywho, enough of me gushing like a prepubescent girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. I do have some actual news: I have just set up a website. It was initially for a computer class I'm taking at my school, but once the class is over (later this week) I'll change it to an independent website I'll use for stories, as well as for whatever else I think is cool at the time (expect a "Top 10 Free Software" page on it). Right now, it's for my school, but I have it linked on my profile page. Who knows, maybe in a week or two I'll have something up.

EDIT: Dur me. In my excitement and rush to get this story up, I forgot to give credit where credit is due. "Kibou Te" was originally developed by the one and only Tellimicus Sundance, and when I was trying to come up with a name for Guuzous jutsu, I thought that his would be cool. So, I asked permission to use the name. Now that I got around to use it, I gotta give the proper props, so to speak.


	19. Necessary Cruelty

**Fan Fiction Name: **Legends of the Past

**Chapter Name:** Necessary Cruelty

**Info: **He as always been acknowledged as the son of legends, as a genius of renown, and as a true shinobi prodigy worthy of his famous name. But can he live up to that legacy of historical importance, or can he forge his own: A legend all his own? Part Seven.

**Disclaimers: Naruto and** the rest of the known characters are not my creations. The rest, OC's all, are mine, all mine! Hahahahahahahahacoughsputterwheeze Give me a second…

**Chapter Nineteen: Necessary Cruelty**

This was...well, I don't really know if "bad" is really the right word for the amount of devastation that I was just about to witness. I know just how powerful Guuzous genjutsu can really become. I had seen them personally. To prove to be a challenge for a full jounin (and the sister of the Kazekage on top of it) to break when he used the genjutsu as a first year genin (second year? I don't remember how old he was at the moment) proved that he was skilled at them. I don't need to activate my Byakugan to know about the massive amount of chakra built up to sustain the genjutsu I was looking at from my perch. Guuzou was always a bit of a firecracker when it came to his training. He is, from what my mother has said on several occasions, a lot like my father when he was a child, but without the freakish hyper-activeness and utter delight in the color orange. If there was one thing he has that my father didn't, it was his flourish: his genjutsu were overly obvious. He would craft elaborate, massive genjutsu that would be interesting to see, but it would be extraordinarily obvious that it was a genjutsu.

Staring down at the wispy, almost inconsistent pair of hands now shooting towards Satokos' back, he seems to have managed to learn the proper way to develop genjutsu. Too bad for Satoko.

As the hands shot forward, a cry cam from immediately behind me, startling me and causing me to jump forward slightly. Unfortunately, I was against the railing and my bruised body rattled against the wood. As I winced, I missed just what happened on the testing floor, but what had surprised me wasn't so much the noise as was the fact it was so damn close to me. Just who made the noise surprised me just as much as the noise itself.

It was Shizuka. Not either of her teammates or one of her friends (granted, I didn't really know any of her friends, but I would think those who I know would talk to her would make sense) but loud annoying bug boy Shizuka.

But my confusion cleared up and my attention is back on the fight, and now I'm looking at a rather...umm...unfortunate sight. That hand that Guuzou created? It was now wrapped around his own neck and his face was growing bright red as Satoko looked on with a smirk at the whole debacle.

What in the...? What just happened? Damn you, Shizuka! You just made me miss something really important!

Guuzous body goes slack against the pressure and goes limp as Satoko moves forward, a massive smirk on his face. I...well, I really don't have any intelligent words for this moment. Just looking at the people here, I would have put Guuzou high on the list of possible winners of the whole damn tournament...and yet there he is, on the damn floor.

"Did you really think it would be that easy, itty bitty little kunai swinging bitch?"

Instantly, I scan for where the voice came from. Was...was that Guuzou? But he's on the... floor... isn't he...Dammit! Of _course _that's not him on the damn floor! Genjutsu specialist! My Byakugan springs to life, and I see the truth of the fight on the floor.

Guuzou is standing right behind Satoko, his hand out and the ghostly hand forming around it. The Genjutsu (now that I know is in fact vintage Guuzou) masks his location from Satoko. She turns to and fro and as the genjutsu sped forward towards her chest, she had turned just at the right time to face Guuzou as the hand vanished deep into her chest. For a second, it almost looked like nothing had happened. The hand had disappeared, vanished straight into Satokos body, and for a second (although, time itself seemed to slow for the seconds after the jutsu seemed to land.

Then came her scream.

It was bloodcurdling. It looked almost like she had just realized what had happened, but it was when that scream seemed to tear itself from her throat that everything began speeding up again. Her body was thrown into convulsions and she began to shake violently. Her face was a picture of perfect agony as she clawed at her chest, her breaths being sharp and obviously painful.

After a second, Satoko weakly raised her hand and managed to gasp something out. Immediately after her hand was raised, she slumped and look as if she had passed out. Lee immediately ran forward and looked as if he was checking her vitals to ensure that she was indeed just unconscious and not anything worse. After a few seconds, he let out a call and several medic-nins came charging out of the back. She was immediately tied to a stretcher and was carried back.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard! How dare he do that to her!"

My ears were assaulted by the outburst. My headache, having died down from my own bout, had swelled up again at the volume of the outburst. My newly bleary eyes turn with sharpness to the loud trench-coat wearer to my immediate who is now leaning over the railing and glaring daggers at Guuzou as his hand was being raised to declare him the winner.

Damn, that was really brutal. The whole move was efficiently and cruelly executed, with a odd amount of sophistication. I'm surprised that it took as long as it did, but not too long after we had come back from Sunagakure there was rumors that Guuzou was a master of elaborate and overpowered genjutsu. I never actually saw anything beyond that one time until this very moment, and he just proved just how powerful he really is, while also showing that he had mastered one of the shinobis most important lessons: never let the enemy truly know how powerful you are until their blood is spilled on the floor.

"You son of a bitch! How dare you do that to Satoko-chan! You little asshole! I'm gonna tear you apart you-"

"Dammit Shizuka! You need to knock it off!" I said angrily, my fingers tentatively massages the fronts of my eyes to help slow the impending migraine. My head was now reeling for the immense rush of sound, and just behind my eyes I was beginning to get the damn burning sensation I had during the match. I was beginning to get an inkling of what it just may be, but that's something I need to discuss with my Aunt Sakura. But, at this moment, I have to make sure that my attention is on what's going on around me.

And right now, what's going on immediately was several curious things: Shizuka and Mai-chan were looking at me with varying degrees of surprise, while even Konhamaru-sensei raised an eyebrow at me. I looked around, dumbfounded as to why I was garnering so much attention.

The it hit me: I was loud. I usually talk very softly (something I picked up from my mother) but I do tend to have an unwavering voice. Just quiet. It was then I realized that I had reached a rather loud level in telling Shizuka off. That's why in our small section of the stands, it was quiet.

"Eh he he he. Sorry everyone," I said sheepishly, blood rushing to my face as the familiar heat of heavy blushing replaced the burning sensation I had behind my eyes just seconds before. I could see Lees bright, knowing smile from the floor of the arena (Jeez, does he use his teeth as mirrors or something? I swear I could see them from up here!) and I swear I can hear a deep-throated chuckle from the Hokages seat.

"I declare Sabaku no Guuzou the winner of this match," rose Lees strong voice from the floor. I registered the concern from her teammates from where I stood, but they kept their composure (unlike a certain annoying, obnoxious, foul-mouthed bug manipulator I know) and simply cast murderous glances at the genjutsu specialist on the arena floor. He responded back with his best impression of his fathers glare right back.

As he walked back to where he was standing (his place was on the opposite side of the arena) I looked at the shifting screen that was determining the next set of contestants. My attention was only half on the screens, as now I think I understood just about everything about just why Shizuka despised me so much (or, I should say, the _main_ thing), and for us to truly be a team that melds and works together, there really should be no major issue behind this team...behind us.

_Hyuuga Hizashi vs. Oto no Yuuichi_

Hmm. So it was Hizashi that was going down to the arena to face someone, as in the other stands another body swaggers down. Oh well, I guess that Hizashi was going to come up eventually, but whoever this Oto no Yuuichi was he damn well better learn quick, because anyone who knew who the Hyuuga are should have an idea as to whats going on.

If this guy didn't (and I sincerely doubt that he didn't knowing of the infamy my family possesses within Otogakure) he was going to be immediately taken out.

"Shizuka, we need to talk," I said seriously, noticing that Hizashi began to move by (and immediately noticing that his blank face turns slightly murderous as he walks by me). Shizuka looks at me sidelong, before turning his attention back to the floor with a huff.

"Ain't got anything to talk about, Satoshi. The next match is about to start," he said, his tone of voice showing he didn't want anything to do with what I wanted to say. Taking a deep breath, I waited for a second to see if he had any kind of extra response to me. After the seconds ticked by (and the quiet kicked in as the two opponents on the floor sized each other up) my annoyance grows and grows.

"Shizuka. I said we need to talk," I repeated.

"Heard ya the first time, Spike. Ya know, someone here's trying to watch this match, and it sure as hell isn't me," Shizuka shot back, his voice dripping with it's own annoyance. "By the way...head's up."

I'm not even given a second to think about this as he roughly shoves me away from him (damn, he's strong!). As I stumble back, a huge mass flies through the area where I was just a second ago. After the mass hits the wall with a sickening crack, I see that the mass is a bloodied and messed up person I assume is Yuuichi. How much physical pain he is would would have been obvious on his face if he had been conscious: he has a massive amount of bruises, contusion, and both his right leg (which is sitting at a very peculiar angle) and left hand (which had a small bloody fragment of bone sticking out)

I was conflicted at what had just transpired. He had been ignoring me a one second (which had royally ticked me off), then a second later he shows some concern for me by making sure I don't get hit by a flying unconscious (former) contender.

If we were in a psychologists office, in some small way, I guess it would be said that we were making progress. However, my attention was quickly torn from what had just transpired between Shizuka and myself and was immediately caught by what I _didn't_ see happen in the arena. As my eyes quickly darted to and fro, I caught what must have been Hizashi landing from the attack that sent the Oto-nin flying.

What in the hell just happened down there? More importantly, _why was I focused on Shizuka instead of the match?_

I was fuming at just how ludicrous the whole situation was! I was too busy trying to make some kind of psychological overview on my damn teammate and not watching the match, which could possibly determine just who I myself would fight in the damn tournament later! Boy was I _ever_ the genius!

As I began watching again, I saw my cousins oh-so-satisfied smirk as he righted himself and looked to Lee, who himself had a surprised by proud look on his face. After slowly walking toward him (ignoring the medic-nins who were hurriedly rushing towards the stairwell that came up to our side of the platforms) he raised his hand and loudly yelled.

"The winner of this match is...Hyuuga Hizashi!"

Almost as if on cue, there was a loud screech of anger and hate from the opposite end of the arena. A quick blur shoots down from the platform opposite us and in an instant I'm balanced and grabbing the railing, bracing myself just in case I need to go down to the floor (which is twenty feet below me). The blur solidifies into the annoying loud little girl who had been given a by at the start of the preliminaries. Her hands began to blur together and (as I quickly activated my Byakugan) began drawing chakra for a jutsu, there came a green blur that originated from Lees original spot met her just steps from Hizashi. Within a blink of my eye, the girl had dropped like a ton of bricks as a single finger pressed against what looked to be the main artery to her brain.

"This genin, Shamisan Nyu of Otogakure no Sato, is hereby **disqualified** from the tournament for flagrant violation of the rules. Medic-nins, take Oto no Yuuichi and Shamisan Nyu out of the arena, now," Lee said sternly, motioning his hands to the medic-nins. As they moved, I looked at my teammate with a combination of confusion and gratitude. He simply smirked back at me, his eyes visible over his glasses as he gave me a comforting smile.

"Don't worry about it, teme. Just make sure to remember that you own me one," Shizuka said, his smirk turning more into a genuine (if slightly mischievous) smile.

"That isn't a problem. Just make sure you don't lose your match, okay?" I reply back, crossing my hands in front of my chest. Suddenly, there is a tap on my shoulder. I look over my shoulder to see Mai-chan, who's eyes are glue towards the screen.

"It looks like you will be able to see if your request will be fulfilled, Satoshi-kun," she says, pointing to the screen. In an instant, my eyes shoot forward to see some interesting names for the next match.

_Akamichi Chouza vs Aburame Shizuka._

- - - - - - - - - -

**AN:** I....liiiiiiIIIIIIIIIII**VVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!**

Holy Crap...I'm done with Chapter 19!

It has been sitting in my hard drive only half done for months now. After getting the bug for my Justice League fan fiction, I kept going and going, until i finally, after months of a dead well and a loss of interest in the manga (I stopped about chapter 401, which was a while ago). But, after beginning to work on Songs of the Multiverse, this began to nag and nag and nag until finally I was able to pull it together and finally finish it.

I have been a little busy in the inter-webs, however. I've actually been setting up a website to try to do some original stories. I actually have one story on, but my well had been dry for a while until now. Hopefully I'll get more things going, at least with the stories. I'll try to get at least one chapter out a month for one of my active stories (excluding major issues that could delay story updates), but at I'll at least get two chapters out per month.


End file.
